


Nine Lives

by Koroshimasu



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Joker (2019)
Genre: Arthur Fleck didn't deserve this, Awkward Romance, Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Catwoman and Joker romance, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, First Time, Flashbacks, Gotham City - Freeform, Hallucinations, Jealousy, Joker redemption arc, Joker's POV, Loss of Identity, Loss of Virginity, Love/Hate, Masturbation, Masturbation in Shower, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mental Institutions, Mentions of Penny Fleck, Mentions of Thomas Wayne, Multiple Personalities, Obsessive Behavior, Older Man/Younger Woman, Oral Sex, Possessive Behavior, Selina's POV, Sexual Fantasy, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Yes I ship them, Young Bruce Wayne
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:47:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 120,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22619608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koroshimasu/pseuds/Koroshimasu
Summary: Two years after the subway murders, with Joker officially locked up in Arkham State Hospital, Gotham begins burning from within. As the city grows filthier day by day, majority of the citizens do what they can to get by. Young Selina Kyle unfortunately falls into a life of crime, and when she has the choice of life in prison or one year’s time in community service as a volunteer in Arkham State Hospital, she chooses.What happens when she meets Arthur Fleck, the man but a mere shell of what he once was as Joker?
Relationships: Arthur Fleck/Selina Kyle, Joker/Catwoman, Joker/Selina
Comments: 122
Kudos: 207





	1. Prologue

**Nine Lives**

“Selina!! Remind me again! Was it two sugars and one cream, or just two creams and no sugar???”

Hardly glancing up from her ‘Bingo Scratch-To-Win’ card, the twenty-four-year-old blonde shrugged while sighing. “I told you, Holly, I take my coffee black.”

Across the coffee and donut shop, the young woman’s nineteen-year-old friend Holly Robinson, who worked as a part-time waitress in the shop rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. Waving her hands in the air, and shook her head, and the motions made her tiny donut hat nearly slide off her skull. “Selina, maybe if you spent less time on all those ‘easy-to-win-get-rich-quick’ schemes of yours and actually helped out around here, you’d be okay once in a while.”

Glaring around the filthy, old coffee and donut shop, the older female spat at her friend, “Holly, I told you; I’m better than working a lousy nine-till-five job! I have bigger dreams!”

Her best friend for years emitted a strained sigh while she dumped out an old coffee filter, moving to replace it with a new one. “Selina, please,” tearing into the package while it started drizzling outside through the partly open blinds, Holly faked an ebullient smile through her exhausted face. “You promised me you’d at least try out this job, and instead, you ended up working not even half a day before you quit on me!!”

“That counts as a trial, Holly!!”

Pausing, the young woman with auburn hair groaned before the coffee brewed. Grabbing a few sullied cloths and approaching the windows and door of the shop, Holly took out a small spray bottle from a shelf and began spraying the mucky glass in the hopes that she could be able to clean them. While the cloth did nothing but spread and smear more grime and dirt along the smooth surface of the glass, Selina frowned at her Bingo card and then slammed her fist down onto the small table she’d been sitting at.

Absentmindedly spraying the windows, Holly took a moment to grin. “You lost again, didn’t you?”

Quickly leaping in to supply an answer, Selina roared, “No!! I mean…ugh…” She had, and they both knew it. What else was there to say?

Peering over her small, dainty shoulders, Holly wheezed, “Selina, I’ve known you since the day you saved me from my abusive jerk of a boyfriend.” Finishing with her cleaning duties as best as she could take them, the younger woman placed the cleaning products onto a shiny round tabletop before yanking up the blinds.

Though the world outside was gloomy, cloudy, foggy, and menacing, it didn’t appear to dampen Holly’s chipper mood. Jovially, she offered her friend a smile that was far brighter than Selina expected it to be.

“You can’t lie to me, Selina,” Holly finished as she flipped the ‘We’re Closed’ sign to ‘Open’, hanging it along the door handle on full display.

Clasping her hands together, the thin teenager stood before her friend and grinned. “Come on!! Let’s do this together as we promised each other!!” Motioning at Selina’s newspapers, Holly commented, “We can still make our dreams come true and get a nice apartment together. I’m not giving up!!”

The older woman pushed her long, wavy blonde hair aside, letting it drape over her shoulders and onto her back. “Holly,” she began in a realistic tone of voice, “I’ve looked at the papers for weeks, now; even a simple, small two-bedroom apartment costs more than what we both would make if we worked two full-time jobs.”

Placing her hands on her hips while thick, dark clouds formed along the horizon outside, Holly shook her head. Fixing her friend with a rather judgmental glare, she commented shortly, “So that’s it, then? Giving up already?”

Curling her hands together in her lap, Selina groused, “You always know how to pick a fight, Holly.”

Nodding her head, Holly gathered her hair into a ponytail and then tossed Selina a playful wink. “Yeah, I know,” she snorted lightly, “I guess I learned that from the best, huh?” With that uttered, she tightened her ponytail, and then padded off back into her rightful spot behind the front counter of the shop. The smell of coffee was high in the air, and Holly set to work pouring a cup for Selina.

“We got this, Selina!” she cried out energetically, “I’m not losing hope, so you don’t either, okay?”

Looking down at her newspaper, Selina only nodded half-heartedly. “Yeah…okay.” As she flipped to the back of it, a small stack of photos she’d taken herself a week prior sat facing her. Shifting through them, Selina smirked slowly as she studied the large houses and streets near Wayne Manor. She’d chosen them on purpose…soon, as she’d once promised to Holly, their lives would change for the better…

Soon.

Smile growing wider and wider, Selina purred out to herself, “Purrrfect…”

(***’’***”)

The moon was full and bright as Selina tip toed along the rooftops high and without the slightest bit of fear coursing through her veins. She’d studied this particular house for weeks, planning day by day how she was going to break and enter. Apparently, the family who lived here were loaded, and they normally went to posh parties every weekend and stayed until dawn drinking and laughing to their heart’s content.

Perfect, indeed.

She’d dismantled their security system, moving quickly like a shadow in the thick darkness. Dressed from head to toe in a black vest, black jeans, and black combat boots, she pulled a black ski mask over her face to conceal and hide her identity. No one would notice, anyway; she was going to pop in, take what was rightfully hers and Holly’s, and no one would ever know. Her hands were covered wisely in black leather gloves, and she wriggled her fingers while snickering in a sinister manner to herself. Her breath came out in small steamy puffs, and she tapped on the large, rectangular windows the size of a person while she peered into the large mansion.

Inside, her eyes caught sight of a black, grand piano, plenty of expensive flowerpots, vases, a glass display case of jewels, treasure collected from exotic countries, and a knife collection. Not much interested in that, Selina carefully unhinged the windows and pulled back on the protective screen. Knowing that the house alarms had been shut off remotely, she hopped inside and swiftly shut the window after her entry, just to be on the side of caution. As she walked up and down the long, large halls, her combat boots barely made a sound over the Persian rugs. Weaving her way past a huge den filling with statues and fancy taxidermy hanging along the stone walls, Selina eventually made her way into an office at the end of the hall.

Stopping at the door, her gloved hand turned the doorknob, and the door opened. It didn’t make a sound; the hinges weren’t rusty, thankfully. The room was dark, and a large, round desk holding plenty of folders and documents faced her. A fireplace was to the right, and picture frames sat along the shelves. Skirting past them, Selina eyed a large liquor cabinet, and shivered once she saw a large shotgun hiding behind another glass case near the desk.

She bent and tapped playfully on the glass of an aquarium, the expensive fish and other aquatic animals immediately taking cover in fear. Ignoring them, she inched herself behind the desk, pushing the chair aside and peering down. With the help of the large, luminous moon guiding her eyes, she espied a large, heavy, and no doubt full safe.

“Jackpot…”

Gripping the dial, Selina searched through her memories for the combination. And how was it that this young burglar knew the combination? Real easy; the husband often dropped by for coffee in the shop routinely. One day, he’d had an argument with his wife, which had escalated to the woman fleeing the coffee and donut shop. Disgruntled and distracted, the man tried to follow her, but had soon dropped his wallet during the hustle and bustle within the shop.

And who stumbled upon this neat find with nimble fingers?

Selina had the wallet returned to him before he could head out the door, the combination already tucked away into the back of her mind. It would serve her well, now, and it did as she entered in the final number.

The safe let out a soft ‘click’, and the door squeaked open.

“Yes!!” Cheering herself on, the young burglar reached inside the safe, and her eyes widened as she peered within it. Jewels, cash, diamonds; the works. It was all here!! Holly was going to flip, but once they sold the jewels, they would be on their way without ever having to look back at this day ever again!!

Stuffing whatever she could into a small burlap sack she’d carried along with herself, Selina was back on her feet and almost out the door. She soon realized she’d celebrated her ‘win’ far too soon when both barrels of a shotgun had been shoved in her face the moment she entered the hall.

“Drop it all, right now.”

Shrieking in fear, the items all fell to the floor with a dull ‘thud’. A moment later, every light in the hallway turned on, the large chandeliers above swinging and bearing down a heated, accusatory light down upon her skull.

Blinking back from the intensity of it, Selina held a hand up to shield her eyes, and the man who owned the house rewarded her courageous move by bashing her in the forehead with the handle of the shotgun. Selina crashed weakly to her knees, tears running down her eyes and falling off her cheeks.

At once, a large hand gripped the back of her ski mask, and it came away from her head in a split second. Cringing in both physical pain and emotional turmoil once she knew her cover had been completely blown, Selina felt goosebumps aligning her flesh as the man chuckled deeply.

“What’s this?” He loomed over her and snorted, “I think I remember you! I see your pretty face every day when I get my morning coffee…” Tsking and clicking his tongue against his teeth, his judgmental eyes swept over her body as he inched closer and closer to her. Shoving the butt of the shotgun beneath her chin, he dipped her head back and forced her to look up so their eyes met.

Blonde hair fell into her eyes, but Selina still hissed at him, sounding much like a feral cat.

Laughing cruelly, the old, rich man snapped, “You almost got away with it, but you made one big mistake, kitty…” Pointing into his office, he said, “That safe emits a silent alarm the moment it’s opened. Police are on the way.”

To further back that up, the loud wailing of sirens in the distance hit her ears, and Selina let out a sad, soft sigh. More tears fell, and she whispered under her breath, “I’m sorry, Holly…I’m so sorry.”

(***’’***”)

She couldn’t afford a damn lawyer, and sadly, Selina learned that not having one only sealed her already grim fate. She’d been thrown into a small court room, stood trembling before a judge while dressed in an orange jumpsuit. The cold, silver metal of the handcuffs tightly woven around her wrists cut into her soft, pale skin, and she shook angrily as she sat in front of an old witch of a female judge.

Silver-green eyes glared down at her behind thick glasses, and the judge craned her neck up. Nose twitching, she hissed coldly, “Miss Selina Kyle, age twenty-four. You were arrested and have been charged for breaking and entering, as well as attempted home robbery. How do you plead?”

Immediately, Selina protested, “I didn’t do anything!! It’s not like they earned everything on their own, either!!”

“SILENCE!!”

The judge screaming even louder at her made the young woman fear for her life, and she peered down at her lap, eyes cast down submissively.

Sighing deeply, the judge’s stern glare softened, but only marginally. Studying Selina up and down for a long, long time, the old woman’s chin jutted forth as she took off her thick glasses. Folding them neatly, she stated, “Miss Kyle. As you’re aware, Thomas Wayne is deceased. But before he was unjustly shot, he vowed that he was going to save our city. He was right…Gotham’s lost its way, and as an upstanding member of law-abiding citizens and a council, I’m vowing to do something for you today that I normally wouldn’t dare to do under any other circumstance.”

This caught the younger woman’s interest. The judge’s words rang over and over in Selina’s ears, and she raised her head, eyes meeting the judge’s instantly. “Your honor?” her voice came out meekly, “what do you mean?”

Pointing at herself slowly while speaking softly and slowly, the judge explained. “Miss Kyle, young women have a lot of potential, and since I am a woman, myself, I want to try and look out for other less fortunate women.” Her eyes were serious, and she hardly blinked as she carried on.

“I’m offering you a chance to change your ways, Miss Kyle, but the choice is ultimately yours since you’re legally way above age.”

A choice? She had a choice?

Intrigued, Selina shut her mouth, and nodded, a silent indicator that the judge had her undivided attention.

“Arkham State Hospital is offering a new community service program in honor of the deceased Mr. Wayne’s promise, Miss Kyle. You can either choose to serve one year of your time in community service this way, or you can go right to Gotham’s Correctional Center for Young Women. You decide.”

How could she make such a decision under duress?!? She needed to talk to Holly, first! Holly was family, and all she had!!

Blinking and fighting back fresh tears, Selina weakly protested, “I…I c-can’t m-make that decision now! Please give me more time!”

“I’m afraid there isn’t any time, Miss Kyle,” the judge bit back, growing stone cold and serious once more. “This offer expires the moment I walk out of here. Think wisely, choose carefully.”

Prison…or a mental hospital?! Neither of the options sounded that grand, but Selina knew that if she left Holly all alone, the young girl wouldn’t make it on her own. She would likely go back to her abusive ex, who would sometimes force her to sell her body in order for him to steal her money and buy drugs. No. Not over her dead body!!

But then again, it was just a year’s time she had to spend in Arkham State Hospital…only a year!! Plus, she didn’t think she was as tough as she thought, not for prison life…

“Miss Kyle? I’m waiting…”

Profusely and nervously sweating, Selina practically heard the old clock hanging above the wall behind herself ticking down the seconds and minutes. As the hands moved, they sounded much like a death knell, or the beating of a deadly drum…

…

The hell with it.

Licking her cracked, dry lips, Selina cried out loudly, “Arkham State Hospital!! I choose to go there!!”

As her words flew freely from her lips and floated in the air high between herself where she sat and where the judge was perched at the front of the room high behind her stand, the world darkened. Bleakly, Selina felt her breath hitching in her throat as the older woman grinned from ear to ear. She looked like some ancient monster, and as her lips pulled back thinly over her pearly white teeth, she seemed just about ready to swoop down and devour Selina.

Gripping her gavel, the judge pounded it, and she barked out crisply, “So be it!!” Exchanging that wooden gavel for a pen and paper, she hastily wrote something down onto it, signed it, and then stamped it. The sounds all echoed in the court room while Selina closed her eyes and trembled weakly like a tiny, withered up leaf in a violent winter storm.

What had she done?! Was this the right choice?! Was it?! What was to happen to Holly?? What would become of their dreams and hopes??

A security guard stalked into the room, gripping her by the shoulders and hoisting her up onto her feet. Though she wisely chose not to struggle, Selina said a quick prayer in her head to herself, and then offered one for dear Holly.

As she was led out of the court room, the judge called out at her back, “I don’t _ever_ want to see you back in here again, Miss Kyle. Learn from this, and learn well!!”

She didn’t even have the strength to nod her head. She just allowed herself to be led out, a dark taxi already waiting for her. The journey back to her apartment so she could collect her things was akin to someone walking down the gallows to be hung. Selina felt the eyes of Gotham City harshly scrutinizing her, eternally damning her.

Officers escorted her, keeping a close watch on her in case she wanted to run away or otherwise do something stupid. As they rode the elevator up to her floor, when the doors opened, Selina saw Holly standing there in the hall.

The weeping teenager dove towards her at once. “Selina! What happened?!?!”

A hard shove came at Selina’s back. “Keep moving! We’re not here for a visit!!”

She had no time to explain. Once inside her apartment, Selina was only allowed to bring one suitcase with herself, and nothing else. Officers checked her items, permitting her to bring feminine hygiene products, as well as a few changes of fresh clothes. That was it.

Holly sobbed while Selina walked through her kitchen, noticing that the various food bowls and water bowls for the neighborhood stray cats had been depleted.

Turning to the officers who stood waiting, Selina nodded at one of them. “Can I please have a moment to say goodbye to my friend?”

Exchanging a furious glare with his partner, the officer she’d addressed finally growled. “Fine. Make it fast.”

As they backed away and left the two women alone, Holly leapt at Selina. Draping her thin, frail arms about her older friend, she sobbed into her ear weakly. “I’m g-going to g-get you out! I swear to y-you, Selina! I’m going to fight for this!!”

“Shh, shh, Holly, it’s fine,” petting her friend as best as she could in her handcuffs, Selina sighed and embraced the younger woman. “Holly, I need you to just promise me that you’ll take care of yourself, stay out of trouble, and don’t go back to that asshole, do you hear me?”

Pulling back out of their embrace, Selina made eye contact with Holly. The other girl sniffled and nodded.

“You hear me?”

“O-okay…Selina!”

“No arguing. I need you to also pop in here every once in a while, feed the cats, be good to them, you know?”

Fresh tears spilled wildly and freely, and Holly’s shoulders caved in. “Selina!! D-don’t go!!!”

Heavy footsteps soon sounded, and an officer warned deeply, “Time’s up. Move it.”

Reluctantly breaking apart from her friend, Selina leaned enough so their foreheads touched. It was as much as she could offer in the form of a ‘goodbye’. She knew that if she spoke, her voice would betray her.

Holding her head up strongly and courageously, as the officers yanked her away, she cried out to Holly, “I’ll be back after a year!! You’ll see!!!”

Selina closed herself off to everything else right after. All she knew was that she went through the motions of being led down the apartment steps, shoved through the parking lot, and then placed in the back seat of the taxi. The tires of the vehicle smoothly drove along for nearly half an hour, the world outside turning dark, cloudy, and just as gloomy as before. Rain pelted down on the windows, and the annoying squelching sounds of the windshield wipers grazing along the smooth glass to push back loads of cold water were the only things serving as almost a ‘metronome’ to her bland thoughts.

Weakly, she sat, not even uttering a single word while the taxi drove on and on deeper and deeper into the city. Outside, as the chaotic, messy world spun past them both in quick and slow successions, Selina saw clown posters, drawings, and signs reading things like: **Release the Joker! Long live Joker! Thomas Wayne is in Hell! BURN! BURN THOMAS WAYNE! THE CITY IS OURS!!**

The filthy streets were strewn with garbage, rats feasting upon the garbage, and burnt papers, clothes, toys, and even dried up blood…

Turning away from the sights in disgust while her stomach tossed and turned, knots forming the longer she thought about it all, Selina vowed to keep her eyes closed until the vehicle had ceased all movement. Outside, she caught the distinct sounds of more protesters wearing clown masks screaming, cursing, and fighting back as they engaged in their fair share of skirmishes with the police. Even two years after the Joker’s arrest and capture, this had been a normal part of daily life.

Impossible, but also a fact.

Gotham was going to hell.

Suddenly, the car heaved forward before the driver slammed his foot down on the brake. Selina’s thin body nearly bashed against the back of the seats in front of herself, but she braced herself before serious harm came to her. The neatly packed suitcase she’d brought along with herself sat to her right, and she cradled it to her chest as the driver swiveled about in his seat.

Cold blue eyes met her soft baby blue ones, and the middle-aged man threw his head back and emitted a vicious chuckle that depicted true sadism.

“Here we are; last stop, Arkham State Hospital.”

Peeking out the window up above, Selina felt all the life and color leaving her face when she was met with the large capital letters spelling out the infernal hospital’s name. The windows were dark, filthy, barred, and for the longest time, she assumed the blasted facility had been closed or abandoned.

If only.

It wasn’t of course. This was going to be her new home for one year, and she still couldn’t believe it. Her world had ended and begun on this very evening. The rain never seemed to even want to stop…


	2. One Thousand Fangs

Selina held her suitcase in both hands just as ‘Carl’ the Arkham administrative clerk advised her to do. The large, burly African American man was the first fresh face to greet her as she had been basically hauled in between two officers. The middle-aged men stood on either side of her, glaring down at her face while Carl spoke to them in pleasant greetings.

All things considered, regardless of the fact that she was now technically inside a mental hospital, Selina decided that she actually liked Carl. He didn’t seem like a bully, and he was rather gentle and soft-spoken. He welcomed her like he was an old friend to her, and a smile never left his dark eyes and lips the entire time he spoke to her in serene, hushed tones.

“Good evening, Miss Kyle,” he spoke out to her as soon as she made eye contact with him. Thankfully, he didn’t introduce himself when his name tag already displayed his name. He didn’t regard her as a crazy goon or an idiot, which she was deeply thankful for. All he did was stand back and stare at her from the other side of a gated window, the thick screen grate protecting himself from any of the more violent patients.

Behind Carl was a large blackboard hanging on the wall, and a lot of powder and old chalk had been crudely strewn about. In the far left-hand corner of the blackboard was the date written out neatly enough to be legible. Thursday, July 17th, 1983. An erratic squiggly line had been drawn beneath the date, and Selina quickly read over the ‘to do’ list, as well as list of ‘news’. Nothing else had been hoisted there on the board or about it, and Carl stood next to an old, termite-worn-down desk.

Interesting.

An old radio sat on one end of the desk, a few tattered photographs and patient files rested face-down on the other end. In the center of the desk happened to be an ashtray, an old, stained coffee mug, a carton of cigarettes, a set of keys, each one as heavy and rusted as the other, and an old walkie talkie set.

Nothing terribly unusual.

“You’re not too talkative, are you?”

Realizing that Carl had been speaking to her the entire time, Selina only hung her head low and remained silent. Her sun-kissed hair hung down in waves and thick tendrils. She felt exhausted beyond belief, but she didn’t want to complain. There was no telling whether or not Carl-as well as the other staff members-knew of her case by now. If they hadn’t, yet, she supposed they would come morning.

Smiling as though he understood, Carl nodded, and he pulled out a few papers from the top of the first bundle of envelopes and folders stashed before himself. Going through them all one by one while Selina saw a few nurses and orderlies guiding patients who were still awake and wandering the halls, the young woman tried averting her eyes when a rather irate looking young orderly glared her way.

“Hmm,” Carl hummed to himself, deep in thought while his dark eyes skimmed from left to right through the contents of whatever it was he’d currently been reading through. Tapping a few fingers over the pages, he glanced up briefly at Selina and shook his head. “Community work, huh?” Clicking his tongue against his teeth, and then rubbing his nose, he sniffed. “Alright. But please don’t misunderstand things here, Miss Kyle; this isn’t a vacation. You’re here to work, and that means no complaining. If we give you a task, hell, even if it’s cleaning out the bathrooms, you gotta do it. Understand?”

Weakly, she only nodded. There was no way she had an argument left in her, no matter how crudely the statements and images came into her brain.

“Good,” smirking haphazardly, Carl went on. “Make sure you do _not_ wander off into areas of the hospital you aren’t permitted into, and if you want something, you come and ask either myself, or the chief director. Are we clear?”

Again, a small nod came from her.

Only mildly satisfied, Carl leaned his weight against the counter before continuing, obviously exhausted himself. “You are to have a few sessions with a social worker, as well as our resident, new psychiatry graduate, Dr. Jonathan Crane.” When she didn’t say a word, he glanced at the officers, who were scowling heatedly at him.

Slightly shrinking back from their eyes, Carl offered, “Err, just our policy, here…I don’t make the rules!!”

Selina only nodded, and she prayed that this would be the end of it all. Whatever was left to happen now, it could wait until morning. She was cold, tired, and beyond upset, but she didn’t dare open her mouth to complain. If she broke on her first night, here, then there was no way on earth she’d be able to survive for a damn year. No one was allowed to see her shake, tremble, mope, and cry. She had to be strong…for Holly.

As if reading through her mind and feelings anyway, Carl snatched up his keys, his patient folders, and he put them away neatly in large filing cabinets lined up along the walls. “Right!! Let’s get you to your room then, Miss Kyle.”

Once he stepped out of his office, Carl led the way, while Selina kept up with him, knowing that the officers would accompany her right up until she was safely in her room. Putting up with it in spite of them all making her out to be some overgrown child, she kept her judgments and anger to herself as best as she could while she journeyed through the halls and stopped before an elevator.

Turning to smile at her in the most pleasant, comforting ways, Carl explained, “Including the basement, there are a total of seven levels to the hospital. The main floor has a lot of offices like administration and registration, patient intakes, a small nurses’ office, as well as an emergency room…” Pausing when he saw the color draining from Selina’s face, he whispered, “Oh, don’t worry, Miss Kyle…we don’t have emergencies and accidents that often!”

The elevator let out a loud ‘ding’, and then the doors opened. Stepping inside with Carl and the officers, Selina didn’t look at either of the men while Carl hit the button for level six.

“The second and third floor are mostly for staff members, graduate students completing their residency, as well as where majority of our meetings take place. Fourth floor is for baths, pools, leisure activities. The fifth floor is where the kitchens are, the laundry rooms, as well as other storage rooms.”

The numbers went by, and Selina felt dizzier and dizzier.

As soon as they stopped on the sixth floor, they got out, and Carl went on and on. “As you can no doubt put together yourself, the sixth and seventh floors all house patients…but the more… _interesting_ ones, anyway.”

She didn’t understand a lot of what that meant, but she didn’t want to ask. If it was important, she was sure he’d tell her at some point. All she knew was that her feet were killing her, and she didn’t want to spend the rest of the night in her drenched clothes. The rain had got to her, and she hated it.

While she shivered down the halls, Carl finally stopped at a room that seemed to be cleaner than the others, thankfully. Its door had been freshly painted, and it didn’t smell as bad as the others. Carl fished out the specific key to the door, and he unlocked it. The hinges let out the loudest groan Selina had heard, and she cringed when the sound of the squeaky door drew the attention of some patients. They all peered and gaped at her from between the glass insert of their doors. Their eyes were beady, dark, and majority of them had bags beneath their eyes…

“Miss Kyle?”

She nearly leapt out of her skin while Carl stepped to the side and waved a hand to beckon her in.

One of the officers behind her gave her a light shove. “Scaredy-cat,” he joked roughly.

Tossing him as resolute glare, Selina dragged her suitcase in, and she glanced about her room. It wasn’t small, and it wasn’t large. A single cot rested against the right-side of the room, and a small sink and mirror leaned on the left-hand side of the room. The sheets of the cot had been freshly washed, thankfully, and they were pulled back, with an extra set and pillowcase resting on the foot of the bed. A small closet stood close to the door, already open and waiting. Near the bed was a decent sized window, but it hardly brought in anything aside from the darkness and gloom. The rain had soaked the glass, and it made Selina colder even looking at it.

Nodding at the officers, Carl sighed, “That’ll be all, guys, I’ll take it from here.”

They tipped their dark police hats at him, bidding him a pleasant night before padding as far away from the room as possible.

Selina walked towards the closet, and Carl called out to her, “Go ahead and get yourself settled, Miss Kyle. I’m just going to go over some basic rules, if you don’t mind.”

She nodded, giving him the ‘okay’ to go, already placing her suitcase onto her bed and opening it slowly.

“Breakfast will be served at nine sharp, and if you sleep in, you’ll unfortunately miss it. We don’t ‘wait’ around on people here, so be punctual, be sharp, and be alert. Lunch is at noon, weekends are laundry days, and supper is at six in the evening sharp. You’re not allowed to have loud music, you’re not allowed to ask for a TV in here, and you can only sign out a few magazines or books at a time.”

Her eyes widened as she considered all the rules, and he shrugged before droning on. “You can make two phone calls per week, but so long as they are made within the city, otherwise it’ll be a long-distance call, and it will be cut off immediately. You are allowed to take free time and do anything you like in your spare time, but that’s _only_ on your own spare time, Miss Kyle.”

She let out a long, sad sigh as she yanked out numerous sets of clothes and eyed her closet.

Knowing she wanted to get to sleep, Carl held out a hand. “I’ll get out of your way, Miss Kyle, but there is one last thing you should know.”

Turning around to face him, Selina crossed her arms over her chest, her old, tattered blue jeans, wet sneakers, and brown sweater already clinging to her body in the worst of ways and making her tremble right down to her core. She hoped he would make this quick; she felt like collapsing right there on the floor.

Moving back, Carl gently pushed the door almost all the way shut. This sent a thrill of fear shooting down Selina’s spine. She caught the serious glare hovering between Carl’s eyes, and it spoke volumes. He wanted to explain something of utmost importance to her, and it was for that specific reason that Selina’s nerves stood high on alert. She suddenly wasn’t so exhausted, now.

Eyeing her warily, Carl hissed, “Glad that got your attention.”

She nodded, and then licked her lips once. “I’m listening…”

Mimicking her stance, Carl folded his thick arms about his chest, and he glared strongly at the floor as if it had somehow harmed or offended him. Brows furrowing, he ground out cautiously, “Miss Kyle. I don’t know how much you listen to or watch the news, but for the last two years, the son of a bitch responsible for causing the war going on outside in the streets of Gotham was admitted here.”

Her blood started turning cold. Though she hadn’t said many words to him tonight, Selina rasped, “You mean—”

“That’s right, Miss Kyle,” stepping closer and closer to her until they were but mere inches apart, Carl answered, “the Joker’s here.”

Though his title hadn’t been repeated much since he’d slain Murray Franklin live on television, Selina knew exactly _what_ the Joker was. His painted face didn’t exactly haunt her, personally, but she’d be lying to people if she claimed that she wasn’t at all affected by his visage when it’d first appeared on her TV screen back when she was still living with both her parents.

….

Before things had gone to shit…

Hands dropping to his pockets, Carl played with his keys. They jangled and made other tiny noises, and he added in gently, “I can’t believe I met the guy in person before all this crazy shit went down…his name’s Arthur Fleck…”

The name didn’t exactly ring any bells for Selina, nor was she able to picture an actual man beneath the crude makeup. How could she, after all? It was so difficult not only accepting that someone was capable of shooting another man in the head live on TV, but to consider the fact that this person could’ve been anyone in Gotham… _anyone_ …it terrified her. More than that, Joker’s movement had created quite the uproar, and that had scared her to her no end.

To think that teachers, mailmen, delivery men, grocery store workers, and school bus drivers could snap and go insane at any minute, donning faceless clown masks while wielding weapons meant to destroy people and take lives was absolutely evil. Selina had never truly believed in concepts such as ‘good’ and ‘evil’ before. Outside of a cartoon or comic book, she’d always thought that most people were okay, unless they really needed money, food, or were fighting to survive out there on the streets. No one was vicious…not like Joker…

But what did that have to do with her??

Again, Carl proved he somehow had some kind of special powers, namely telepathy. Moving back towards her door, he asserted, “He may think he’s some kind of a celebrity here, but we keep him all by himself most of the day. That means you’re not to talk to him, you’re not to go around asking about him, and if you do catch a glimpse of him whenever he’s allowed half an hour of recreation time in the yard, you do _not_ -I repeat- _do not_ talk to him, Miss Kyle. He’s dangerous, he’s crazy, and he’s a fucking monster. That’s all there is to him. Are we clear on that?”

Meeting his maddeningly serious gaze, Selina blinked as she nodded. “We’re clear. I’m just here for myself.”

Gripping his keys, Carl opened the door again as he whispered, “Glad to hear we’re on the same page, Miss Kyle. You’re a young, pretty, impressionable girl, and there are a lot of animals in here who’ll wanna take advantage of that.” Holding up a thick index finger and pointing it at her as though it were a gun, he hissed, “Don’t let that happen, you hear?”

For the last time, she nodded while she still was awake. She hoped it would suffice, and for the most part, it seemed to. Carl’s expression softened, and he even bowed his head in a small form of obeisance. 

“Goodnight, Miss Kyle.”

As the door solidly closed behind him, Selina heard him locking it, but before she freaked out, she had to remind herself that it was more than likely for her own protection that he was doing it. She had to keep all the malicious, nefarious thoughts out of her mind, and she had to stay strong and on target to keep her nose clean so she could get the hell out of here.

Looking out through the bars draped along the glass insert of the door, Selina saw a few odd shadows lurking beyond the door, but they didn’t get to her. She was a grown adult, and she knew that this was an asylum of sorts. A lot of odd things would happen in the night, possibly such as patients talking to themselves, singing, crying, or doing God-knows-what-else. The sooner she got used to it, the better…at least for the sake of her own sanity, anyway.

Kicking off her soaked, disgusting sneakers, Selina shredded off her socks in another go, stuffing them inside the shoes. Seeing as they were messy and gross, she mentally made a note to get them to be washed as soon as laundry day approached. The old, rusted radiator in the room clicked and made odd noises as she settled in, but she didn’t let it bother her. Curling into a small fetal position on her cot, she felt something digging into her shoulder, and when she shifted, it moved into her lower back. Selina tossed and turned about, knocking her hips back into her suitcase. It crashed to the floor, and it spooked her when it thudded on the tiles loudly among the silent ambience. A moment later, lightning flashed across the sky beyond her window, and a few seconds went by before thunder roared mightily like a giant in the distance.

Gripping her sheets, Selina yanked them up until they rested above her ears. Rolling over, she dove and tucked herself beneath them. They didn’t provide much in the way of warmth, but she didn’t care. She was feeling a rather nasty headache about, and she shut her eyes and tried drowning out the noises and bright lights. That was all she could hope to do.

Already, she knew she wasn’t going to have a good night in the least bit.

(***’’***”)

Morning came soon enough, but Selina found she hadn’t been prepared for it. Strange; she loved mornings, and yet now, she was growing to hate them. Not at all managing to sleep even more than an hour at the most, she weakly stood on her feet when she heard someone giggling right outside her door.

A loud ‘bang’ echoed along the halls, and then a booming voice announced, “RISE AND SHINE!!! WAKE UP!!!”

One by one, the various patients on the sixth floor stirred. Selina heard multiple voices at once, and a lot of odd greetings. For the most part, she consistently heard rounds of: ‘Good morning!’, ‘How did you sleep?’. Unfortunately, it didn’t take too long for her to be aware of the fact that she’d been admitted into Arkham State Hospital, of course.

A few of the more disturbed patients barked, hissed, growled, mewled, while others sang, hummed to tunes only they themselves were able to hear. As soon as Selina pushed her door open, she nearly bashed into a tall man dressed from head to toe in a white hospital gown. The elderly man was skeletal, and even whiter than the walls. He twirled and danced about, a few nurses hot on his heels while they trailed after him.

Things got loud and hectic after that. Majority of the orderlies barked out instructions while waving their hands and trying to get the patients all to walk down the large steps single file. They were heading to the kitchens, no doubt, and Selina tried keeping to herself. She could practically feel her skin tingling and crawling, and she had a strong, sixth sense for this specific sensation. Someone was watching her, but she didn’t wish to give this person power and unnecessary validation through attention. In matters like this, it was always better to ignore and play dumb and meek.

Thankfully, the distance between her floor and the kitchens was only one level. In no time at all, the familiar scent of bacon, coffee, and eggs hit Selina’s nostrils. Strangely, the vibrant young woman found that she had no appetite. Her stomach didn’t even growl as she walked inside the large cafeteria housing at least fifty odd patients, but she took her rightful place in line and grabbed a fresh breakfast tray when an orderly walked around handing them out to everyone.

A dreary, dull line formed along one wall, and everyone moved along like tiny ants while they were given their breakfast. Some patients got cookies, bits of cake and tea, while others took crackers, toast, and jam. Majority of these people here ate whatever they were given, Selina found, but others were put on specific diets, it seemed.

An enormous, round man waddled by, grabbing a carton of milk and laughing to his heart’s content. He sat down beside a small group of other men, all of them almost as round as he himself was, but he won that competition by far.

“Next!!”

Selina had been far too preoccupied with enjoying the way in which sunlight was streaming in through the large, expansive windows. When this summer day was so bright, so warm, so radiant, she had to pause and wonder just how Holly and her cats were doing…were they safe?? Were they okay?? Were they at least a bit happy??

….

The uncertainty of it all tugged at her heart strings, and it hurt worse than a punch to the gut. Holly was family! She was practically a sister to Selina, and she would rather do harm unto herself than see Holly hurt in any way!!

“NEXT!!!”

One of the chef’s shrieks pierced through the air, almost bouncing along the walls and glass like a bullet firing through. Selina twitched, and as she looked up ahead of herself in line, she saw no one else there before her…it was her turn! That’s why the chef had screamed at her, of course…

Flushing deep pink in the center of her cheeks, the steam steadily rose off her ears and from the top of her head. Cradling her tray to her chest, she bit her lower lip while receiving a rather annoyed glare from the chubby, stout chef. Tilting her head impatiently at Selina, she groused, “Well?! Wanna waste my whole fuckin’ day, then?!”

Shaking her head, Selina rasped, “No! I was j-just—”

An orderly dashed to her side, a frown marring his youthful features. “Is there some sort of a problem, here?”

Hearing his snippy, clipped tone, Selina winced as she offered weakly, “I just got lost in my thoughts…I’m sorry…” She detested how small and fragile she sounded, but she wasn’t going to argue with a man, for one, and two, she couldn’t afford to cause problems for herself here. The last thing she needed to do was to make it so that Arkham State Hospital became a home for herself longer than necessary.

Staring at her long enough to make his assessments, the orderly waved her off. “Selina Kyle; always one for daydreaming, huh?”

Not one to bicker given her current predicament, Selina only shrugged an insouciant shrug. It didn’t satisfy the orderly or the chef, but they didn’t give her grief, either. Shaking his head at the pathetic sight of the young woman, the orderly barked, “Well? What’re you waiting for, then? An engraved invitation?”

“Give me your damn tray!”

Snapping into action, Selina held onto her tray strongly. “No!” Her wavy hair bounced about her shoulders in time with how her head shook. “I’m n-not hungry, please.”

Clearly in no mood to struggle with her, the orderly snatched her tray away and slammed it down on a cart supporting many others. Nodding over towards the benches and tables, he snapped moodily, “Get out of the way then.”

Without saying anything else, Selina’s feet shifted, and she strained her eyes while searching for a place to sit. In this menagerie of insanity, there weren’t many places to go. Thankfully, however, in spite of many groups and ‘friends’ sticking together in their hordes, the men and women stuck together. At least with that on her side, Selina felt a little better while she moved into the center of the cafeteria. She’d located one seat near the windows. A trio of women sat about chatting softly, and given how friendly they seemed, Selina walked on right over.

Unfortunately, she learned all too quickly that appearances were quite deceiving. One of the women, a tall, but lean gal not much older than Selina with fiery red hair scowled mightily at her for even daring to walk over. Standing up quickly, she hissed dangerously, “Don’t you even think about it.”

Stopping well ahead in her tracks, Selina knew she wasn’t wanted here. Turning around, she searched and hunted for another spot, and just when all hope had been lost to her, she saw a long arm jutting forth into the air. It waved at her like a flag caught in the wind, almost.

“Hey! You can sit here!!”

Peeking over her shoulders just in case the person had been referring to someone else, when Selina saw no one else there, she felt a bit safer about crossing the distance over to the table. Impatiently, the person called out to her again, and Selina hurried along before someone else took her offered spot.

Sitting herself down, she took her time to gaze around the table. She discovered that a woman and two middle-aged men sat near her. The woman must’ve been in her mid-thirties, Selina assumed. She had shaved her head, but soft black stubble covered her entire scalp, and she grinned a toothy, but welcoming grin at Selina nevertheless. The two men were identical twins. They both had tanned skin, light brown hair, and thin goatees. They had slightly long, hooked noses, dark brown eyes, thick lashes, and they smiled in a friendly way at her.

Introducing them, the woman crowed proudly, “The knuckle head on the left is Larry, and the bozo on the right is his brother Harry.”

Selina beamed at them. “Hi!”

Finally, the woman extended her hand, offering a handshake as she snickered, “And I’m a famous spider from a famous children’s book!!”

Not much of an avid reader, Selina paused before Larry jumped in and answered. “Charlotte’s Web!!!”

Harry leaned against his brother and cooed, “My favorite book!!”

Lifting a finger, ‘Charlotte’ added in carefully, “Although, you can’t really pronounce it or spell it the same!”

Trying to be friendly and polite, Selina inquired, “Then how do you pronounce and spell it?”

Ever so pleased someone had asked her this, ‘Charlotte’ cleared her throat and straightened up. “It’s Shar-let! Sharlet! Not Char-lot! Make sense?”

There was a distinction, and Selina was quick to piece it together. “Ahh, so it’s written out with an ‘sh’, and the end is pronounced with ‘let’!”

Sharlet winked. “You got it, sugar cakes!!”

Not needing to feign interest, Selina smirked at her new group of associates. “Thanks for letting me sit here. I wasn’t feeling too great, but it’s nice to have friendly people around.”

Harry grinned while he munched on some toast, the breadcrumbs falling and some bits clinging onto his chin. “Don’t sweat it!” he chuckled, “it wasn’t easy for us the first week or so, and we try to do what we can to help new faces!”

As she sat and listened to her new friends, Selina had to wonder just what these poor citizens had done to land themselves in Arkham State Hospital to begin with. Though by no means any expert when it came to mental and social health, Selina couldn’t pick up on anything being ‘wrong’ with Sharlet, Larry, or Harry. They all seemed relatively normal, well together, and amusing in their own charming ways.

Why were they here?

When she’d wanted to find a way to gently broach the topic, that familiar feeling of being watched sprung upon her. Spine tingling, and skin growing cold and numb, Selina searched all throughout the cafeteria in the hopes that she would be able to locate whoever her new ‘admirer’ happened to be.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t been lucky in that regard in the slightest. Her odd behavior only drew confused stares from the twins and Sharlet. They stared at her in silence until Selina shrugged her own conduct off. 

“You okay there?”

Nodding at Sharlet, Selina offered, “Y-yeah, sorry! Thought I saw something!!”

For some reason, this caused Harry and Larry to both throw their heads back simultaneously and hoot out in wild laughter. “That’s the way it goes, here!!” Their faces turned red as they added in perfect unison, “We all see things! Haha!”

Blushing, Selina tried joining in on the laughter, vowing to put whatever was bothering her in the back of her mind so she could try and make new friends and keep them. It was the least she could do in order to keep relatively sane…

…She hoped.


	3. Whispers in the Dark

Somehow, the next four days went by pleasantly enough, strangely. Selina found that as she stuck with Sharlet and the twins, no one bothered her, no one got in her way, and her mood changed dramatically. She felt lighter, happier, and more energized. Soon, she got involved in other chores and tasks around the facility, and she practically forgot about the fact that she was technically admitted into a mental health facility.

Days passed much like this; a routine that was set. While Selina enjoyed it immensely at first, after the first week and half of her stay, the young, bright minded woman grew accustomed to the old schedule, and she was now bored. Tedium crept up behind her too quickly, threatening to stay with her like an unwelcome guest. Soon, the swimming classes and outdoor exercise sessions didn’t cut it. She’d already explored and read through most of the books in the library, and she couldn’t find any new ones she’d liked. Movies weren’t exactly permitted, nor was music, possibly due to the fact that majority of the patients had schizophrenia and other delusional thoughts.

Everything ‘fun’ was a trigger, so it seemed.

With Dr. Jonathan Crane supposedly still on extended ‘vacation’ for the time being, Selina didn’t exactly have anything in the way of ‘therapy’ sessions to attend to. Not that she wanted or desired them; she knew she was fine and a genuinely well person. If anything, she supposed that the sessions were more for the judge to check up on her progress, and if that was in fact the case, she wasn’t going to push against that.

The sooner she left this infernal place, the better…

She decided to compose a few letters for Holly, and she got through two large ones. Nothing scandalous was written within them; just news and notes on how she’d been feeling, just so Holly wouldn’t worry and stress too much about her. She’d completed them both to cover the last week of her stay, and then Selina found the same old lull of boredom striking her once again. It hit her hard enough that she felt she had to venture out to get some fresh air, and have a small change of scenery. What she longed for the most was to observe some ‘natural sights’.

Sitting in the bright sunroom one Friday afternoon, Selina grabbed a small magazine on gardening and outdoor decorating. Not that interested in it, she tried using it to eat up her frustration and tedium, but by the time she got to the fifth page, again, she felt herself growing agitated and frustrated with everything. Setting the magazine down, she studied her white top and matching white loose pants. It was the standard, set uniform for all the patients. All ghosts…and she was now welcome in their family. Gone was her sense of identity; her originality. Now, she was just a number; a body in the sea of white masses…

Well…to think of it in such bleak, raw terms depressed her more than anything else going on in her life, currently. She didn’t want to ever fade. She was still a fighter in spite of it all, and not at all wanting to lose her spunk, a courageous Selina Kyle grabbed a discarded pen hiding away beneath the magazine racks. Popping the cap open, she began drawing a tiny cartoon cat on the right leg of her uniform pants. The black ink served well for her to flesh out the ears, tail, and eventually the sleek body of her furry friends waiting for her back at home. As she completed her little drawing, Selina couldn’t help but truly feel homesick…

She missed her animals…she missed her sister, Holly…

“You’re technically not supposed to have a pen out, let alone draw on your uniform, you know.”

The soft, feminine voice that had spoken out to her came from behind her at once. Leaping a mile into the air, Selina’s bizarre motions caused her pen to soar through the air, and she emitted a horrified shriek. Swiveling about in her seat, she saw the lovely, serene colors of plants, small trees, as well as crudely cut out cardboard birds hoisted up on phony branches of artificial plants. The windows of the sunroom were cleaner than any other window in the facility, strangely enough, and all the natural light streaming down revealed a red-headed woman with pale, freckled skin. Her complexion was almost doll-like, and the light dots covering her skin weren’t too plentiful. Each one had been placed in the right way, in the right angle, so it seemed, adding on to her exotic, mysterious beauty. The woman wore a white lab coat, had thick, dark-rimmed glasses that covered up majority of her slender, youthful face. Her eyebrows were thin and honey blonde, and her eyes were sea green. A rich color Selina hadn’t seen outside of a modeling magazine, truthfully.

Shifting along the soft blue floorboards of the warm, cozy sunroom, the woman was wearing black flats with tiny bows in the center, and tight white jeans. Her red hair flowed freely behind her shoulders, but as soon as she stood before Selina, she began collecting her thick hair in both hands. Quickly, without the use of a mirror, the woman gathered her hair and braided it in a single, long braid that hung down to the lower half of her back.

Impressive…

Still, that didn’t explain who the hell this woman was, and what she wanted from Selina. The mystery hanging in the air only caused her to grow suspicious. Gathering her legs and pulling them up against her chest, Selina coldly spat, “Who the hell are you, anyway?? And why’re you sneaking up on people for???”

Blinking rapidly at her, it took a moment before the woman gasped. Holding out a dainty hand, her green-fingernail polish was almost blinding due to how shiny it was. “Oh!!” she blushed, “I’m so sorry! I’m Dr. Pamela Isley!”

Slowly, Selina shook her hand. “Doctor?” she repeated cautiously, “are you a therapist, too?”

“Not at all!” Correcting her, Dr. Isley informed, “I’m a horticulturist, as well as a lifelong botanist, if you must know.” Clasping her hands together, she swiftly moved away from Selina, and instead flocked over to a row of fresh, half-green, half-red tomatoes. They grew up nicely from the center of their pot, and Dr. Isley cooed over them. “I just love nature…I can’t get enough of it, truly!!” Inhaling sharply, she sighed a dreamy sort of a sigh before looming over more flowerbeds positioned beneath warm lights specifically designed for their growth and production.

“My babies…look at how they’re growing…so fascinating…” Practically salivating over the foliage and vegetation, Dr. Isley’s eccentric pattern of behavior both amused and terrified Selina. Unsure of what to make of the new woman flying about the sunroom and connecting greenhouse, Selina covered her tiny smirk with a hand while only observing the botanist.

Eyes practically flowing with tears, Dr. Isley announced, “They need lots of water, lots of fresh soil, and looooots of sunshine!! No one listens to nature enough to understand it!!” Almost weeping, she added, “Do you know why that is??”

“I…” Selina began, and then cringed. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”

Clasping her hands together, Dr. Isley sighed sadly, “Shame! Oh well…I guess I should hurry up and see which of these tomatoes are ripe for Joker!!”

….

Feeling as though her blood froze right away in her veins, Selina hardly moved. For a few solid minutes, it appeared as though all the air in the sunroom had been sucked out by a large vacuum. Catching her breath somehow despite the fact that she was internally shaken, a disturbed Selina Kyle focused on sounds of the wind blowing and howling outside. A few scattered leaves smacked against the glass, and suddenly, a few dark clouds hauntingly gathered above.

Clearing her throat while Dr. Isley hummed an off-tune, bizarre song only she herself knew, Selina rasped, “I th-think you mean Arthur Fleck.” She didn’t understand why she’d even bothered to correct the woman, but it was too late to take her words back, now.

Taking a small peek her way over her own shoulder, Dr. Isley shook her head while bending to grab an old spray bottle from a metal shelf nailed to the wall above the cucumbers and tomatoes. Positioning the nozzle of the bottle over the roots and soil of the plants, she sprayed delicately and precisely.

Her teeth were too white as she smiled in a friendly way at Selina. “No, I meant Joker, sweetie.” She got back to spraying and caressing the thick leaves of a cabbage while losing herself to her humming once again.

Skull suddenly throbbing with an odd, dull pain, Selina blinked before blandly muttering, “Is there a difference?” When Dr. Isley stopped whatever she was doing and faced her, Selina swallowed. Once her throat felt fresh again, she offered, “I mean, they _are_ the same person, right? Arthur Fleck _is_ Joker.”

Why did she care, again?! She had never met the man, nor did she want to. As far as she was concerned, as well as the citizens of Gotham that weren’t insane were concerned, Joker was a homicidal maniac who only flourished under the dregs and scum of the earth. A victim of his own circumstance by nature, he couldn’t have helped how he turned out, but somewhere along the lines, he’d made the conscious decision to harm and murder people. Why should she pity him? He was despicable through and through, and she didn’t want to get to know him on any deeper levels. He was a damn fiend.

Nose scrunching up, Dr. Isley drawled, “I think Mr. Fleck has spent so much time as Joker, that Joker has taken up far too much space inside his head, you know.”

That was a rather cryptic message, and Selina had no idea what to make of it. She leaned forward in her chair, almost hanging off the edge of it. Eyes bearing hard into Dr. Isley’s, she whispered, “Do you…do you actually feel s-sorry for him?!?” She was unable to keep the judgmental, harsh jab out of her barbed tone.

Picking up on it, Dr. Isley wagged a finger before Selina’s nose. “I wouldn’t be so quick to judge when you don’t have all the details, sweetie.”

Digging her fingers into the armrest of the chair, Selina glared daggers at the far too sympathetic Doctor. “You’re foolish if you want to keep believing that,” she spat out before she could control herself. Backed up by raw fury, she went on. “I saw what he did to Murray Franklin; I caught the entire show live. All he did was try to come up with his own laundry list of why we should all feel so sorry for him.”

Dr. Isley had nothing to offer, but her face turned rigid, cold, and closed off to the ideas and points Selina was making.

Turning her nose up in the air almost standoffishly, the blonde spat coldly, “He’s a monster, plain and simple.”

Not at all moved about it as emotionally as Selina happened to be, Dr. Isley offered emotionlessly, “I think you’re far too young and immature to appreciate the message Joker was trying to send.”

Feeling a new wave of disgust slamming into her, Selina allowed that feeling to spawn in her gut, before it pooled right down to her toes. Lips curled back in a sneer, she took her time before spitting back with bite, “Look, lady, I had a rough childhood, too. I had to leave home due to a lot of horrible things that went on, and I fought to survive on a regular basis.” Pointing outside, she raised her voice, “Do you have _any_ idea how tough it can be out there?! Hmm?? It’s brutal most days!!”

Dr. Isley pushed her glasses up even farther and higher along the bridge of her nose. As though only seeing Selina for the first time ever, she observed her with high amounts of interest and awe, eventually setting the spray bottle back down on the shelf.

Shrugging, Selina concluded strongly, “Trust me, I know a thing or two about just how shitty a lot of people can be. But that’s not an excuse to go around slaughtering people, and I think you know that too, Doctor.”

The wind continued roaring and howling outside, and the large sun hid behind clouds, almost as if seeking refuge as far away from Selina’s wrath as possible. The day had seriously gone from ‘pleasant’ to ‘gloomy’ in the blink of an eye, it seemed.

Oddly, rather than lashing out at her like Selina assumed she would do, Dr. Pamela Isley only clasped her hands behind her back and smiled gently. Rocking her weight back and forth on the soles of her feet, she giggled a faint, childish giggle. “I think you may see the other side to your argument if you ever speak with Joker, sweetie. He can be rather…convincing, shall we say?”

“No,” Selina argued, “I don’t want to talk to him, and I won’t.”

Pursing her lips in an ‘o’ shape, Dr. Isley gasped, “Never?”

Stepping up into her face as closely as she could get for the sake of being intimidating, Selina grinned widely. “Never.”

Nodding, Dr. Isley let out a long, low whistle. Eyebrows flying up, she muttered, “Never say never, sweetie. I was once in your shoes, too!! I thought Joker was a demon walking among us, and I blamed him for all the deaths and violence in Gotham. But you know what I eventually realized?” Gazing longingly at the glass atop their heads, Dr. Isley let loose another odd giggle.

Those giggles made the hairs along Selina’s flesh rise, and she bit down hard on the insides of her cheeks, ever so desperately trying to contain her anger before she lashed out at Dr. Isley.

Finishing her train of thought, Dr. Isley confessed openly, “I realized that I was the odd one out!!” Tapping her toes along the floor, she did an odd, little dance, swirling about before cackling, “I was the joke!! Haha! Isn’t that amusing???”

Whatever kind of ‘knowledge’ or ‘sapient wisdom’ Dr. Isley thought she was in on, Selina didn’t feel comfortable with knowing or sharing. The other woman’s behavior truly disturbed her, and it was chilling enough that it made the young woman shiver in spite of how warm it always was in the sunroom.

Selina ended up running out of it, even though she wanted to enjoy a small cat nap in there, and even though she hadn’t washed away the small cat drawing off her white uniform yet.

(***’’***”)

As much as Selina didn’t want to admit it, she was fascinated and abhorred by Joker. It seemed that even in this place, a lot of the patients had their own versions of the stories to tell, and each one had a slight deviation than the previous one. Trying to be careful about how she conducted her ‘research’, Selina went on inquiring about Joker as best as she could by first talking to Sharlet and the twins. Since they were all on good terms with her, they seemed more than happy to give her any bit of information they had…which appeared to be a lot.

During supper that same Friday evening, Selina stuck by rather close to Sharlet, never leaving her side while she collected the pathetic excuse that was her supper for the night. Dried up vegetables she hardly recognized by sight alone, one slice of bread, and a bit of rice and corn on the side. Ignoring the corn and rice, Selina stabbed her broccoli with her plastic fork, and it barely held itself up before crumbling apart into a few lousy pieces.

Already frustrated, she instead directed her attention and energy on Sharlet, who was busy pushed around her rice and vegetables while humming to herself on a very high-pitched note.

Elbowing her gently, Selina softly asked, “Sharlet, have you ever spoken to Joker?”

Both the twins stared up at her, slowing down in their ingurgitation. The looks radiating forth in their eyes became obnubilate, no doubt showing how the gears of their minds began turning. Sharlet looked mildly perturbed, but she shook that feeling and expression off effortlessly.

Tossing Selina a playful grin, she then scratched her shaved head as she murmured, “I can’t say I’ve ever spoken to him, but I know of him, Selina; everyone here does.”

Off to a strange start, Selina lowered the volume of her voice once she espied a few guards and orderlies pacing about. They stopped before a window, however, and they cranked it open ajar. It wasn’t for the purposes of allowing fresh air to flock in, sadly. They leaned their heads as much as they could towards the opening, and a minute later, they lit their cigarettes and began smoking.

Using up what little time she had wisely, Selina again hounded Sharlet with more questions. Staring down at her plastic tray, she softly brought up, “Do you guys think he’s downright evil?”

The reactions she’d gained were rather shocking. The twins frowned in an argute manner, while Sharlet shook her head and sighed apathetically. Sounding beyond winded while she separated grains of semi-burnt rice about on her plate, Sharlet wheezed, “Selina, don’t believe everything you see on TV. Please.”

Larry stroked his goatee softly as he added, “My father was pretty damn evil, and he’s about the only person I can describe as being that way.”

“Joker isn’t evil,” Harry finished for his twin, smirking a half-smirk while playing with his utensils. “He’s a lot like us, you know.”

Stunned by that statement, Selina sniped harshly, “I don’t think you should compare yourselves to him, guys. I had a rough childhood too, yet I don’t go around killing people!”

Waving her spoon at her, Sharlet cut in, “But you _did_ try and rob someone, no?”

….

Somewhat ‘caught’, Selina felt the flush rising in her ears and cheeks. Steam practically rose from the top of her neck in clouds, and she glared down into her lap as though all the answers had been written there. She had nothing much to say, but that suited her friends just fine.

While the twins snickered, Sharlet sighed gently. “I’m not here to judge you, Selina. Everyone here has messed up in their own way. God knows I have, too. But one thing I learned was that the rich people in Gotham City seriously do more of these things us ‘little guys’ do too…only difference is that when the rich folks do bad shit, it’s usually measurable by terrible proportions that will seriously outbalance the scales of justice.”

Whispering in a husky tone, Harry chimed in with, “She’s right. The major difference is that we’re willin’ to admit to our shit instead of hidin’ it away and blamin’ it on someone else.”

So, they were _all_ monsters in some way, granted. But Selina wasn’t buying into being condemned to the same ‘hell’ as Joker. Not in a million years.

Chin jutting forth in accusation, the unruly young woman glared on at her friends while she hissed thinly, “I don’t care how you guys want to ‘sugarcoat’ it; Joker’s a murderer. I even heard that he killed his own _mother_!! For God’s sake!!”

Rolling her eyes, Sharlet leaned into her and hissed back in her ear. “And I’ll let you in on a little secret. Both my father and stepfather raped me ever since I was eight years old, Selina.” Frowning a serious frown, Sharlet continued. “No one believed me. I told my mother, aunt, and even my schoolteacher, but no one except for my poor grandmother listened to me. The only problem was that no one in my family was willing to trust the word of an elderly woman with dementia, and so they all thought I was lying…”

Swallowing nervously, Selina averted her eyes from Sharlet’s deep gaze. Her eyes were filled with anger, fire, and vengeance. Her thin eyebrows bunched up over her brow ridge, and with the dim lights already provided in the cafeteria, she was made out to look like some odd creature from a horror movie. The young woman’s expressions twisted and wound on her face in sinister tones, and she seemed beyond deranged as she chuckled quietly.

“I tried getting help, but everyone turned me away.” A sad expression overcame Sharlet, then. “Sadly, my grandmother, the _only_ support system and listener I had in the world passed away before my fifteenth birthday.” Eyes practically glistening with heavy tears, Sharlet sniffled while she explained. “I thought those bastards were going to get away with it forever. They kept doing it for many, many years. I kept on crying and reaching out for help, but I was laughed at and called crazy each and every time.” Gripping her utensils so tightly that her knuckles and fingers ran white, she growled, “All hope was lost for me. My stepfather even went on to work for Mr. Thomas Wayne. He was fucking being rewarded for all his misdeeds, and that made me feel even worse.”

Tilting her head back and staring at the large, wide ceiling, she cried weakly, “It was like, why wasn’t _anyone_ paying attention to me? Why wasn’t God answering my prayers?? No one cared…no one…”

The orderlies soon finished up with their cigarettes, and they were closing the barred windows. Selina panicked, but tried not to show it in case one of them caught onto it and walked on over. Sitting as still as she could, she watched from her peripheral vision as Sharlet cradled her head in both hands and stared down at the table.

“Anyway. When Joker shot those three assholes on the subway, the ones who worked for Wayne, it was a good wake up call for me, you know.” With courage backing her motions, she laughed in a bitter manner while she expounded, “I…I shot my father and stepfather a few nights after Joker shot Murray Franklin. He inspired me! He showed me that I had nothing to fear, and that sooner or later, bad people get what they fucking deserve!!”

Mimicking that same phrase, the twins repeatedly cried out, “Get what you fucking deserve! Get what you fucking deserve!!”

They soon were loud enough in their chanting to draw attention unto themselves. One orderly pointed crudely at them and sharply crowed, “Silence! Eat your damn meals and be quiet!!”

Hushing her friends, Selina quickly finished up with her vegetables, scarfing them down so quickly that she didn’t even understand what the hell it was she’d munched on. She just wanted to clear right out of the cafeteria so she could think in a peaceful, quiet place…possibly her room.

Though she made to run away and sequester herself upstairs on the sixth level of the hospital, she heard footsteps softly padding on after her. Sharlet soon caught up to her, hanging onto her shoulder by clamping a hand down on it. Drawing herself near, the older woman rasped shyly, “Selina, think about it. Whatever you don’t know about Joker is probably whatever is most important, and the media doesn’t want you to figure that out, trust me.”

As much as Selina liked and valued Sharlet’s friendship and company, she was doubtful about this. When it came to notions of ‘good’ versus ‘evil’, ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, there was no room for arguing and to bend or twist rules and belief systems. There was just no way, and she wasn’t going to stand there and make excuses for Joker, or for anyone else.

With plenty of empathy painting her face and her tone, Selena placed her own hand over Sharlet’s, and drew the other woman’s limb off her shoulder. Smiling warmly, Selina said, “Sharlet, I really am so sorry for what happened to you. I am happy things are better for you, now, but I don’t think it’s very healthy to see Joker as a savior or some kind of ‘God’ to worship.”

Only slightly miffed by this, Sharlet offered a nonchalant shrug. Her shoulders drew up, and she released a small giggle that reminded Selina a lot of the one Dr. Pamela Isley had let out hours earlier.

Was _everyone_ in this place crazy about Joker??

Though she found she didn’t want to know enough to seek out an answer for that just yet, Sharlet distracted her by pacing around Selina in small, tight circles. The fabric of their uniforms brushed, and Sharlet rubbed her thin, long neck soothingly.

“If you want to do your own ‘discovery thing’ about Joker, it’s probably better not to rely too much on what others tell you…plus,” she snorted softly, “it won’t look too good for your case if you’re caught askin’ around about the guy.”

“What do you suggest, then?”

Tapping a few fingers along her sharp chin deep in thought, Sharlet took her time before she answered. This made Selina feel impatient and rather jittery, especially considering how she heard more orderlies escorting patients up to their rooms. That meant it was time to hurry with the conversation, wrap it up, and then head back to their separate rooms.

Cupping a hand around her mouth to muffle the sounds of her next words, Selina carefully inquired, “How do I do that?”

Sharlet offered logically with a calm demeanor, “You gotta first do a little ‘homework’. Ask Carl if you can help clean out the administration office and filing cabinets, but be very, _very_ careful!! He is very clever, and he will pick up on signs of suspicious behavior, so be careful, be quick, and do whatever you can to find out whatever you want about Joker. The rest is up to you, and you’ll make your own decisions, Selina.”

Unsure of the latter half of that statement, the young woman only walked on to her room after waving farewell to Sharlet. Once within the confines of the four walls of her little room, Selina sat down on the edge of her bed and got thinking. Perhaps she could indeed approach Carl for work, and then gain knowledge about Joker that way. It was the least intrusive method, so it seemed, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt if she obtained new tasks and things to do around here. In fact, it would probably make her case look better before the judge soon…

Deciding on that right away, Selina prepared for bed. The faster she fell asleep, the faster she could wake up bright and early to approach Carl before anyone else could. She needed to speak with him alone, and she needed to be thoroughly convincing.

A plan was in motion; the cards were in her palm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope Pamela Isley was written out in an interesting way!! ;)


	4. Through the Keyhole

Selina found herself standing before the locked door leading to the administration office sharp at seven in the morning. An old painted sign with faded red letters read out: ‘ _Office of Records_ ’. Looking up, Selina could almost picture Carl standing there in his usual spot, greeting and welcoming new patient intakes, or answering questions and following up with inquiries…

As she’d been lost in the depths of her daydreaming once again, she didn’t see a shadow falling behind her, slowly creeping up. It crossed the scant distance from the left corner of the hall right up to a few inches away from Selina’s turned, unprotected back…

Once the hand slammed down on her shoulder, Selina let out a sharp hiss. Turning about quickly, she dug her fingertips into the back of the hand, and then kicked back as hard and as high up in the air as she could. Her heel connected with a warm, but rough object, and then a few seconds later, she heard someone emitting a strained gasp.

“Oooww!! The hell?!?”

Deflating in relief once she saw Carl cradling his knee while a few bags hung around his shoulders, Selina felt a twinge of guilt slamming into her. Wincing, she gently touched his back as she apologetically gushed out, “Oh my god! I’m so sorry, Carl!!”

Holding up a hand as he balanced his weight on a foot, the semi-injured man chuckled rather pleasantly for someone who’d been kicked quite hard in the knee. It seemed that he was understanding enough, and he wiped his sweaty brow with the back of a jacket sleeved hand. “Oh, that’s alright, Miss Kyle,” waving her off, he added, “fault was mine. But that’s one hell of a nasty back kick you got there.”

Tucking a wavy tendril of blonde hair behind her ear, Selina gushed out in remorse while a penitent expression remained sincerely on her young face. “I’m sorry, I just learned from a young age how to defend myself, and my mom let me take gymnastics, you know.” As she explained this to Carl, the memories of her lovely mother flooded into her mind, flashing before her eyes like a movie playing.

She saw her mother’s long, brunette hair flowing while she pushed her daughter on a swing. Higher and higher, the swing moved up. The wind breezed by, the sun beat down perfectly and majestically. Selina’s mother always had such a beautiful, perfect smile. Teeth white as snow, eyes kind and warm, a mix between brown and green. Green like plants, brown like the rich earth beneath their feet. She also had such a sweet, sweet laugh whenever Selina remembered hearing it. Her hands were warm, her heart was loving and gentle.

_Selina…_

“Hey? Miss Kyle?”

Being yanked out of her wonderful reverie, Selina met the eyes of a slightly concerned Carl. The man snapped a few of his fingers in front of her nose, eagerly trying to get her attention. Pausing long enough to scowl mildly at him, Selina cleared her throat.

Nodding at him in the hopes that it would show him she was still ‘with him’, Selina replaced her scowl with a pleasant smile. “Yeah…sorry…just thought of something.”

“Oh yeah?” he stroked his facial hair, which wasn’t much thicker or longer than a beard covering his jaw and chin. Eyes narrowing at her, Carl suggested, “You daydream much, Miss Kyle? If so, you may want to mention that to Dr. Crane! He’s very resourceful and helpful, you’ll find.”

Not one for therapists poking around in her life and mind, Selina’s pleasant smile slipped dramatically. Though her voice remained fond and gentle, her eyes betrayed her true emotions. “Thanks, Carl, but I don’t think I’ll be needing that kind of help for now.”

That was as far as she could communicate in the gentlest of ways that it was far better for Carl to mind his own damn business. Only widening her eyes a margin, Selina seriously stared on ahead. For moments, neither she nor Carl blinked, and it seemed as though they were hosting their own odd manner of a ‘staring contest’ of sorts. It’d all gone over so well, with no clear leader or winner, when suddenly, Carl heard a buzzing sound coming from within the office.

That broke him out of his ‘spell’. Blinking rapidly, he rubbed his eyes and moved back towards the door. After fishing out his keys and unlocking it, Selina made sure she stayed on his ‘good side’ as best as she could. Patiently, she waited until he answered the phone, updated his ‘to do list’, and grabbed a fresh cup of coffee for himself.

She’d always been something of a patient creature, and now that she had oodles of free time on her hands, Selina played her cards well. Folding her arms behind her back and clasping her fingers together, she paced her way up and down the halls a few moments before she heard Carl disconnect and end his call. Once again, she flocked right in front of the large barrier between herself and Carl, and she offered him a warm, empathetic smile.

Returning it fully, Carl sighed, “Busy morning already for me.” Looking back at an old white clock hanging on the wall above the blackboard, he suddenly frowned. “Err, why’re you awake so early, Miss Kyle??” Stopping himself, he quickly added in, “If I may ask, of course.”

Beaming at him, Selina rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet as she sang out cheerfully, “I came to ask a few questions, Carl.”

Outside, the sun was slowly rising, and it was oddly a bit darker than Selina remembered mornings in July were. Supposing that it was all due to the heavy rain that had visited Gotham steadily for a few weeks now, Selina tried feeling positive, productive, and hopeful in her approach.

Amused, Carl paced around in his office, though he never wandered out of her field of vision. As he moved, he spoke out gently to her. “That depends on your questions I suppose, Miss Kyle! But I’d be happy to help you if I could.”

Remembering that he’d once encouraged her to come to him if she needed anything, Selina remained optimistic that he hadn’t reneged on his promise to her. Walking towards the window a bit, she drawled on, “Well, I’m just curious as to whether or not you need any help in there?”

When he tossed her a puzzled glance, she elucidated carefully, “I mean as far as cleaning or organizing goes. It’s a mess in there…no offense.” Finishing it all by winking at him, Selina relied heavily on her feminine charms to get her through. Not that she suspected Carl of abusing someone for power or glory, but she’d caught the ways he’d looked at her during her first night, and if she didn’t know any better, she was more than positive that he appreciated her body, at the very least.

Not at all incorrect in her assumptions, her courage and daring nature had been rewarded by a faint chuckle escaping Carl. Enthusiastically, he commented, “Miss Kyle, usually, the sanitation crew handles that kind of work.”

Staring about the office and taking in the sight of mountains of dust, cobwebs hanging between corners and objects down in thick ropes, and eyeing the clumps of powder on edges of old furniture, Selina shook her head. Motioning at heaps of garbage rising out of gross-looking buckets and pails, Selina sighed, “Not trying to be rude or anything, but are you _sure_ those guys know what they’re doing?”

Following the line of her inquiry and where she was looking, Carl soon observed the buckets and garbage pails. A moue of sheer disgust flooded over his face. Bending to examine the buckets, he glared up at the ceiling, and just as he did, a few drops of water fell down from an obvious leak in the old ceiling. Watermarks and great amounts of damage had been long done to the building, so it seemed. At this point, Selina wasn’t going to be shocked if she saw rats hanging about.

When he leaned directly under the leak, another drop of cold rainwater dripped down onto his cheek, and Carl let out a soft groan. Wiping it off his dark skin, he tried saving face as he shivered and then regained his composure before Selina. Seemingly ‘ready’ to talk to her, he faced her slowly and smiled a semi-uncomfortable smile.

“Come to think of it, Miss Kyle,” he began in a weary tone while shaking his head back and forth in a display of obvious disapproval, “I could use some help around here after all.” Walking back to the entrance, he opened the heavy door, and stood aside to invite her in.

Playfully bowing, Selina commented and quipped, “I think this place could use a woman’s touch, don’t you?”

Carl only grinned at her in pride.

(***’’***”)

Though grateful for the opportunity to help out, Selina found that by the third day of this routine task, she was tired. Not one for physical labor, Selina had to rethink what it was she was even hoping to accomplish, here. She had to be subtle and careful, and she had to play things by the rules in order for Carl to trust her a lot more than he already did.

Since he’d invited her in and accepted her help, Carl handed her a mop, a broom, and plenty of empty buckets. Setting to work, Selina placed them right beneath the leaks in the ceiling, and she reminded herself to check on them every four or so hours to empty their contents. It just wouldn’t stop raining, either. As soon as she’d started working with Carl, the weather turned crappier and crappier outside. Listening to the radio on Carl’s desk whenever she had the free time to do so, Selina noted that for the rest of the week, it was going to be nothing but thunderstorms, heavy showers, plenty of violent gusts of wind on the hour, and there were even mild warnings of a flood…

“It’s about time if you ask me,” Carl snorted one afternoon while he sat down on a bench near his locker, munching away on a banana. “God sent the flood to wipe away the trash and dreg heaps of Gotham City…he is gonna cleanse this shithole, I think.”

Reserving her opinions and keeping her thoughts to herself, Selina eventually re-organized Carl’s locker. It took half a day to clean it out. It was beyond filthy, though she knew it wasn’t his own fault. Grime and mildew gathered from the bottom up along into the corners, winding along as if it had its own life source. A putrid stench came from a half-eaten apple that had been rotting away for months as it fell caught and trapped between the bottom hinges of the locker. Fishing it out and away with a tiny knife, Selina fetched cleaning products from the storage closet, and she sprayed the entire locker from top to bottom. While it soon smelled a heck of a lot cleaner, it still looked affright.

Spraying more and wiping away whatever else was left over in the locker, Selina threw away at least one roll of a paper towel’s worth. Caked all in dirt and heaven-knew-what-else, she pulled a nauseated face when Carl asked her how things were going.

Kicking at the trash bin, Selina pointed at the paper towels that had gone from white, to brown and black in some areas. “That’s an entire specimen even science hasn’t discovered yet…”

Cringing, Carl looked on ahead at the disgusting sight of it. “Aww man, and to think that I’ve been hanging up my coat, hats and mitts, scarf, and new clothes in that thing for years.”

“Might want to burn your stuff for extra sanitary purposes,” Selina joked, “or else, send it to a lab for experimentation and examination!!”

Thinking it was only just all for the fun and laughs, Carl amused Selina for long enough. It seemed that the administrative assistant wanted nothing more than to take breaks wherever he could, and he took them whenever he could get them. Watching TV and listening to the radio while Selina dusted the picture frames, got rid of the spiderwebs, and shined the glass, Carl thought nothing of it at all.

Unfortunately, that was all she could be permitted to do, really. Each and every time Selina eyed the filing cabinets and old boxes storing away patient files, psychological reports and records, Carl would get in her way and ask her to do something else. It seemed she was good enough for cleaning and tidying things up, but nothing else. 

What luck.

Still, Selina came back each and every day, all in the hopes that once, just once, Carl would become distracted somehow, and she would be able to gain access to Arthur Fleck’s patient registration, admission, and psychiatrist’s notes.

Never did she actually envision for the opportune moment to arrive, but it thankfully struck one Tuesday morning. It was half-past eight, far too early for breakfast, and yet, one of the former drug addicts and paranoid schizophrenics came down for a ‘chat’. The fifty-one-year-old Cyrus McLennan started tapping and banging away on the glass barrier before Carl, ranting and yelling about something incoherent.

Groaning in despair, Carl’s fingers hooked onto the edge of the counter as he roared, “What do you want now, Cyrus??”

The elderly patient threw his head back and screamed mightily, “Someone’s trying to poison me!! I knew it all along!! You all want me dead and gone because I am—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Carl interrupted impatiently, “you’re Abraham Lincoln’s son, we have already heard it all before, Cyrus.”

Selina peeked over from the corner closest to Carl’s new coat rack. “Carl? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I got this, Miss Kyle.” Bracing his weight against the counter, he sighed strongly, “Look, Cyrus, this is the last damn time I’m gonna warn you; get back to your room, and wait until breakfast, alright?”

This small warning didn’t go over too well. Immediately getting on the defensive, Cyrus pounded on the door leading into the office. Thankfully, Carl had a mind to lock it after himself, a usual safety precaution no doubt all the staff members working at Arkham State Hospital put in place and were trained to carry out. However, due to the way Cyrus was wildly kicking and slamming his shoulders into the door, in no time at all, the lock broke.

In a fit of worry and panic, Carl heaved himself forward while also calling out for backup. Cyrus was as tall and as large in mass as Carl was, strangely. His age wasn’t at all a deterrence or inhibitor, and he was able to bash himself repeatedly against the already broken door. Trying to safeguard the room as best as he could, Carl yanked forward a chair and braced it beneath the door handle. It held for only a few minutes until Cyrus thrust forth all his body weight and knocked it back. Due to the powerful force behind his motions, an unsuspecting Carl was sent tumbling back. Tripping over his own feet clumsily, his arms flailed about while he tried gaining a semblance of balance. Among the commotion, the emergency system of the hospital blared on at once to alert the other patients and staff members on the same level.

Over the PA system, a woman’s voice cried out: ‘ATTENTION! ATTENTION! WILL ALL PATIENTS ON LEVELS ONE AND TWO PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND WE ASK THAT YOU STAY IN YOUR ROOMS! THERE IS AN EMERGENCY, AND WE ASK ALL PATIENTS TO REMAIN CALM! PLEASE REMAIN CALM!’

Many pairs of feet thudded and thundered up and down the halls while Carl held out his hands and tried keeping Cyrus off his body. In the midst of the struggle, he cried out to Selina, “MISS KYLE!! GET OUTTA HERE, NOW!!!”

Frozen in panic, Selina didn’t know what to do. A part of herself want to dive in and help Carl. She considered him a close kindred spirit, and she couldn’t ever just abandon a friend like this!!

“MISS KYLE!!! GET OUT!!!”

Due to the urgency in his voice rising and slamming into her eardrums, Selina knew she had no chance. It was time to be realistic, of all things. She was a woman who weighed no more than one-hundred-and-sixteen pounds, and she was only five-feet-seven inches. She was nothing in comparison to the whopping six-feet-two inches and two hundred plus pounds of fat and muscle that Cyrus happened to be. She was nothing…

Gazing down the hall past the busted open door, Selina saw the whites of the uniforms of the orderlies, and the black suits of the guards. Help was on the way, and it was a lot better to leave it to the professionals to handle, after all.

Deciding to do just that, as Selina leapt over bits of broken chair legs and desk legs, she nearly tripped over something that rattled sharply in the center of her ears. She’d accidentally kicked it to go flying, and when she peeked down at whatever it was, she held back a surprised gasp. In the middle of all the havoc and chaos, Carl’s keys had gone sailing to the floor.

This was her one and only chance!!

Dropping to her knees while Carl rolled over and over on the cold, hard floor, desperately trying to overpower Cyrus, Selina snatched up the ring of keys. Trying not to make them rattle and give herself away, she backed up and nearly crashed into the door. Right on time, it banged open, hitting the wall as four security guards and three orderlies rushed in. They threw themselves on top of Cyrus, tugging fiercely on his legs, arms, shoulders, and hips to try and wrangle him off Carl.

Screams and death threats exploded in the room, and within seconds, at least two more patients who’d not been attended to slipped in as well. Now that there were far more people in the tiny office, no one took notice of Selina trying the keys hurriedly on the filing cabinet with the capital letter ‘F’ written out by hand as a label. It’d been taped onto the center of the filing cabinet, and Selina wasted no time.

Four, five, six, seven, eight times she tried to find the exact key that would fit the lock and open the filing cabinet. Again and again, none of the keys worked, and Selina knew she was going to soon run out of time. While the struggle still raged on, furniture in the room was being thrown and kicked about. Ducking wildly as best as she could, Selina used her left arm to shield her head from any incoming damage, while she tried another three times to unlock the filing cabinet.

Surely she’d ran out of keys at this point!!

Begging herself not to give up, Selina tried one of the most worn out and heaviest keys. She wasn’t sure why this one was shaped differently and bent at such an odd angle, but it was. Shoving it into the keyhole, she was about to nearly break down and weep. It wasn’t going to fit, either…until she put more force behind her hand out of anger. Suddenly, the key slid right into the lock, and when Selina twisted it once to the right, the filing cabinet let out a barely audible ‘click’.

Learning well enough from her illustrious past experiences, Selina didn’t dare celebrate yet. Gazing down at the fighting horde of crazy men and guards, she saw everything and nothing. And they no doubt wouldn’t see her, either. Carefully and cautiously, she slid the filing cabinet drawer open, and as she alerted her ears to any sounds and signs of a change in the struggle, Selina’s fingers rifled through the documents.

Whispering to herself the various names, she frowned deeper and harder as she went on and on through every last name starting from the letter ‘F’.

_‘Fannor’, ‘Fallon’, ‘Fierman’, ‘Feeder’, ‘Flack’, ‘Fleck.’_

Fleck!!

Ripping the folder right out of the drawer once she was certain she had what she needed, Selina then ‘covered’ her tracks in the best way possible. Dropping the keys almost exactly where they’d fallen, she crept out of the office, cradling and clutching the folder tightly to her chest.

In like a lamb, out like a lion…or was it the other way around?

(***’’***”)

Selina sought peace and refuge in a private women’s bathroom on the fourth floor of Arkham State Hospital not long after escaping the Administration and Records Office. Once she’d been able to find at least a tiny semblance of peace and quiet, the young woman locked herself in a single stalled bathroom in order to sit down and really study Arthur Fleck’s patient file.

Plopping herself down on the half-clean tiles, Selina ignored how the harsh cold crept up into her bones and settled deeply into her hips. Outside, the wind howled, as if somehow warning her and berating her for stealing the patient file in the first place.

Well, to give in to that and believe it enough to take it seriously would prove to be nothing short of childish and idiotic. It was always a rainy, dreary day down in Gotham City, so why should this current evening be any different?

Making sure the door was tightly locked before she began reading, Selina considered one serious fact to herself. It was an inescapable, inevitable fact as raw as bleeding if one scraped their hands and knees along dry cement during an accident. As much as that sensation hurt, Selina’s next thoughts did as well.

Eyeing the neatly written cursive handwriting on the center of the yellow patient folder, Selina read out loud in but a whisper, “Arthur Fleck.”

Arthur Fleck…Arthur Fleck…Arthur Fleck…what did that name even mean to anyone? As far as she knew already due to the information she’d accrued, Arthur Fleck was a God among men, practically. He was both worshipped and respected in this loony bin, and Selina had no idea why. Wasn’t ‘law and order’ and ‘morality and ethics’ part of the society made up of even the less fortunate?? Didn’t ‘crazy people’ have some kind of respect, values, and a code to go by?? She’d always assumed so, and to consider the fact that a man such as Arthur Fleck could go around smothering his own mother, and shooting Murray Franklin point blank between the eyes without being despised and hunted even in _this_ place was quite odd to Selina.

Fingers trembling and growing numb the longer she thought about it, another thought flew into her mind at random. This one was a lot more visceral than its predecessor, and a lot more serious. It was borne from the folder lying there on her lap, as clear as day, and it made her worry considerably. Selina knew that once she opened the folder, she would also be opening herself up to the world of darkness and bleak madness that was Joker. Was she prepared for that?? Sure, she’d gone through her fair share of odd shit, but she was still but a child in many ways. Well, Holly had called her a child and a ‘kid’ plenty of times during arguments, but there were still semblances of truth ringing behind each word.

Selina had to remind herself that she was only twenty-four. Joker was far older than her, which meant he’d been through a lot more in life. No doubt a lot more jaded than she was, the man could’ve been relatively skilled in the art of manipulating young people, for all she knew. Warning signs blared off all over her brain and skull, thumping and blasting about back and forth until she was certain she had a terrifying headache to deal with, now.

Once this world was open before herself, and once she walked beyond the last threshold, there would be no going back. She’d already heard that Joker was quite manipulative and persuasive. But what else was there to find out??

Her fingers obeyed her body. Already, she’d pushed open the front of the folder, and its flap fluttered onto the left side of her thigh. Balancing the folder on her right thigh, Selina drew in a long, calm breath and closed her eyes. She had to be prepared, and she mentally counted back from ‘ten’.

Ten…

Nine…

Eight…

She still had the chance to back out of this…it wasn’t too late, yet…

Seven…

Six…

Oh, how her curiosity burned at the core. She wanted nothing more than to drop the folder, rush back to Carl, and come clean about what she’d done. Sure, he would no doubt report this, and she would be harshly reprimanded, never to be trusted again, but it was the right, proper thing to do!

….

Five…

So, if she knew it was the right thing to do, why couldn’t she move? Why wasn’t she strong enough to get back on her feet and leave??

….

Four…

Gritting her teeth together, Selina felt her nerves crashing and burning all around herself. She’d already given in before the battle had even begun. She wasn’t as strong as she’d once led herself to believe. Perhaps she’d been a good enough actress, magician, or liar…

….

Three…

Two…

Peering down at her lap, she let out a small, childish giggle. It was far too innocent to be her own, but she lost herself to it. Why not? She was in trouble either way she looked at it. If she walked on into the realm of Joker, she may not come back as herself. No, she would probably lose a piece of herself she loved, valued, and cherished the most. But if that’s the price she had to pay in order to gain some answers and truths, then she was willing to go through with this.

Yes.

….

One…

Yes. She was ready to open this door, and even though a horde of monsters and demons could possibly follow her through to the other side, it was a treacherous journey she’d been prepared to make. As brave as she was, her meager adventures as a teenager and adolescent couldn’t even compare to the one she’d been about to embark on during this night.

This was the hour; this was the night.

Selina finally started reading.


	5. Forced Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day!! Tis my gift to all!! 💓💞🌸🙏💖🎈🎁🔥  
> Music in this chapter belongs to 'The Platters'. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2di83WAOhU&list=RDH2di83WAOhU&start_radio=1

She wasn’t sure what exactly she’d been hoping to find. Precisely what on earth her mind had conjured up was indescribable, but it couldn’t hold a candle to what Selina actually discovered printed down on papers in Arthur Fleck’s file.

Starting from the first page, it was nothing but madness all around. In late June of 1981, Fleck had been admitted into Arkham State Hospital, and he hadn’t spoken much to anyone since then. Selina read that whenever addressed, Fleck would only throw his head back and laugh, and that behavior even applied to moments where his therapists asked him about the subway murders, as well as the uproar which followed Murray Franklin’s death.

He laughed…the monster actually had to laugh at it all. Rather than showing the slightest bit of remorse, he laughed…

How could he??? How?!?

He wasn’t plagued by nightmares, nor was he visited by dreams, strangely. He didn’t work well with or react to others, so they stopped bringing him out among the general population. Bizarrely, Joker’s presence didn’t exactly disturb other patients…no, in fact, they often sang songs of praise for his actions and misdeeds, and they tried carrying out a lot of special favors for him. As far as Selina was concerned, Arthur Fleck, Joker had a lot of friends in low places, here.

The nerve.

He didn’t eat much, and it was noted by a physician that he’d lost at least eleven pounds in the last two years that he’d been in Arkham State Hospital. Wanting to see an image of the damn man, Selina moved aside other notes and documents, and attached by a paperclip to the top of a large bundle of sheets, two photographs of Arthur Fleck stood facing Selina.

The photo on the left served as a sort of ‘before’ photograph. The date printed on the bottom right corner read out distinctly: ‘August 22, 1981’. Eyes shifting naturally to compare to the photo on the right, Selina saw the date, first. ‘April 27, 1983’. Immediately and quite obviously, she located all the differences in the two photos plain as ever. On the left, the Arthur Fleck captured in the photograph still looked… ‘healthy’. He had some meat on his bones, at least…but the Arthur Fleck on the right was an entirely different story. Selina could definitely tell that the man had lost weight, and no doubt had seen better days. His cheeks were more sunken in and hollow, and he appeared beyond emaciated. His hair poked out in odd angles, though not any longer than how it appeared to be in the 1981 photograph. The Arthur of 1983 had bags under his eyes, and those eyes were so dark, filled with pain, misery, and yet were so detached and void.

How could it be?? Was she dreaming??

Shaking her head and blinking rapidly a few times, Selina squinted as hard as she could at the two photos. While Arthur wasn’t smiling in any of them, he was still somehow able to portray a lot without portraying anything. No, his face didn’t betray any emotions, yet there was an entire universe of chaos right there in the center of his pupils glaring back at Selina…she forced herself to look away before those merciless depths drew her in more than what she could bear.

Fingers flipping through assessments, exams, and other notes mainly written by doctors and social workers, Selina went over Arthur’s most recent psychiatrist notes. The first one she paused to read through was dated February 11th, 1983.

_Mr. Fleck doesn’t want to talk about what happened with his mother, but evidence still exists that he truly believes he was doing Gotham City a favor by shooting those three young Wayne employees. He has drawn out the scene himself, which shows malicious intent and a lack of remorse still to this day. ‘It’s what they deserved’, as he stated to me during therapy. What else does he think hard-working citizens of Gotham deserve? Who knows. When I asked him, he shrugged, and continued working on his drawings._

Shivering, Selina rubbed her right arm with the left one, and continued to read on to the next note.

_February 24 th, 1983_

_Fleck doesn’t even want to be referred to by his given name any longer. He insists that everyone either call him ‘Joker’, or we don’t speak to him at all. His demands aren’t many, and his eating habits are poor. All he does is lock himself away in his room while working on his pesky drawings. I put in a request to have them looked at, but without his consent, I can’t do much. It would be a violation of his privacy, it would seem._

_March 13 th, 1983_

_Fleck claims when he choked his mother while she was in the hospital, it was one of the most liberating moments of his life. He never knew happiness or comedy until then, but somehow, her death emancipated him from a lifetime of suffering and depression under her tutelage. ‘She wasn’t much of a mother’, he said blankly, and when I asked him what he meant by that, he initially refused to clarify. When I promised him I would reward any information he provided by allowing him one extra hour in the wading pool, he told me that Penny Fleck, his mother, abused him and enabled a lot of abuse unto Arthur at the hands of one of her boyfriends…_

_More self-pity? I’m not sure. I don’t have much information either way. When I pushed him for more information and intel, and when I asked him to describe the memories of this supposed ‘abuse’, he mimed zipping up his lips tightly, locking them, and then threw away the key._

Interesting, depraved, insane, and ludicrous. Nothing short of the universe of absurdity and madness wove its way around Selina as she read on. Many doctors, therapists, reporters, and novelists tried arranging a time to sit down with Joker just to get a small window into how his life went on. People tried…yes, many had tried indeed, and many had also failed miserably. Joker never took interview requests, and anyone who wrote him letters got their mail returned to them…with a large happy face childishly drawn onto the back of their page.

An example of one was attached to the back of some notes, and Selina glared away at it. The face itself had been drawn in black crayon, and the smile was red and quite exaggerated. It stretched out wider than the moon, practically engulfing the entire width of the page. The face sat smiling at her for such a long stretch of time, that Selina found her patience wearing thin already. Resisting the urge to rip the sheet away from the rest of the folder, she had to constantly remind herself that she was-for all intents and purposes-‘borrowing this’. She had to return it back in just the same condition it was found in when she’d taken it.

That was going to be difficult, but she found that when she moved on to Arthur’s ‘biography’ jotted down in some point forms, as well as through various doctor statements that extended on for some lengthy odd pages, she was going to struggle with this. Not bothering to count them, Selina’s eyes glossed over words that stuck out to her the most. Drawn to them due to how vivid and graphic they were in detail, the curious young woman paid close attention to what she was reading.

Without even knowing it, she had blurted out loud: “Nine-year-old was left home alone with mother’s abusive boyfriend at the time…chained for hours to an old radiator, left without food and water…malnourished, dehydrated…suffered lesions on the skull that no doubt suggest a blunt object was used…”

Seizing up when she imagined it all, Selina felt her chin and jaw quivering. Why was she feeling so badly and guilty about all this?! It wasn’t as if she’d been the one abusing the young child!! And why was she upset over Arthur Fleck’s plight??! He’d been proven out to be a monster who had little to no regard for human life! He was a beast who walked among men, and he didn’t deserve her sympathy! What was wrong with her?!?

Resisting the urge to beat some sense into her own thick skull, Selina vivaciously repeated to herself, “You’re only feeling badly because he was a child at the time…you feel sorry for the _child_ ; not Arthur as the man…the monster…”

Yes…until she was able to convince herself, she repeated it. Sometimes, she knew her emotions ran amok, and she had no idea why. This should’ve been nothing but a ‘black’ and ‘white’ notion of what was wrong, what was right. How could she feel even a twinge of guilt or empathy for Joker??

…She must’ve not really been feeling well, or so she thought…or maybe…maybe it was that like Arthur Fleck, Selina Kyle knew she as well came from a damaged, broken home…that her own family life hadn’t been perfect from the start, but that she’d always skipped off to school as a little girl laughing and smiling just to hide the pain and anger away…

…She smiled…

Nearly bashing the back of her skull into the old stone and brick of the walls behind herself, she whispered between clenched teeth, “I’m going mad…I’m freakin’ losing it!!!”

Pushing through past her throbbing headache banging away in her skull, Selina’s eyes narrowed and zeroed in on a few x-rays taken of Arthur’s body. His skeletal system seemed fine, but the notes at the bottom worried her deeply.

_‘A subdural hematoma was noted to have afflicted Mr. Fleck when he was still quite young. The condition resulted in the accumulation of large amounts of blood outside the brain. Subdural hematomas are usually caused by severe head injuries, and as the police reports indicated, Mr. Fleck was severely neglected and abused by his adoptive mother, Penny Fleck. Social services as well as a pediatrician arrived later on the scene to assess whether or not the living residence at the time was ‘safe’ for Mr. Fleck to ever return to, and since the adoptive mother tried fighting for the return of her son, many visits were made to the apartment._

_The results and findings were brutal and devastating, to say the least. Traces of feces and urine were found embedded deeply into the carpet, especially around the radiator where Mr. Fleck was chained to for many days and nights. His childhood room was beyond filthy, and evidences of blood and other strange bodily fluids were found on his clothes and on his towels. His curtains were burnt, possibly by cigarettes, and the insides of his shorts had a lot of cigarette tips embedded deeply into the fabric and cloth._

_This child was severely abused both mentally and physically. When toxicology reports came through, it was discovered that the ten-year-old child had traces of whiskey, brandy, and vodka in his system. The alcohol was used to render young Arthur defenseless, weak, and susceptible to more physical violence._

_He was beaten over the head with the blunt end of a large flashlight, and pushed into coffee tables, desks, and chairs. His mother’s boyfriend at the time also bashed a mug into the back of his head, causing the subdural hematoma in the first place. The bleeding and increased pressure on the brain from said subdural hematoma was said to be life-threatening by Arthur’s pediatrician, Dr. Steinway. Some subdural hematomas stop and resolve spontaneously; others require surgical drainage, which thankfully didn’t appear to be the recommended case here for Arthur._

_My final conclusions…this poor boy. Society failed him. His mother failed him. The school system failed him…we all played a part in what he became._

Enough.

Slamming the folder shut, Selina got to her feet. She swayed like a drunkard as the heady rush gained from standing so quickly affected her, but she recovered in no time. Right now, she felt she’d read plenty about Arthur Fleck, and she didn’t want to feel even sorrier for him than she already felt. It was getting to her, and it greatly angered the volatile young woman.

Creaking the bathroom door open, Selina stuck out her head into the hall and peered left, right, and to the left one time to check if it was all clear. She knew she had to return the folder somehow without getting caught. The sooner she made that trip back to Carl’s office, the better it would be for her.

Rushing out into the open hall, Selina barely felt the bathroom door swinging shut, the small breeze it created as it closed behind her and grazed her skin, when she slammed into a rough presence. Luckily, her reflexes were fast, and she leapt out of the way and shoved the folder behind her back to conceal it.

Holding out her left hand, she hissed, “Who the hell—”

The words evaporated from her mouth and mind when she recognized that long, auburn braid, those light, sun-kissed freckles, and that blasted white lab coat.

Shoulders sinking in, she mumbled, “Hello, Dr. Isley.”

Readjusting her thick glasses onto her nose, the botanist squinted at Selina for a moment, as though trying to struggle and work hard at recognizing her. Eventually, she removed her glasses, wiped them on her coat, and then placed them back onto the bridge of her nose. At once, due to her ‘clear vision’, she smirked when she eyed the state Selina was in.

“Everything alright there, sweetie?” Pointing at her frizzy, messy hair, she commented swiftly, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Taken aback by this offhanded comment, Selina tried playing it cool. “No, I’m fine,” she lied through her teeth, hoping the other woman would buy right into it. “I’m going to just head to my room, now…” Selina had almost passed Dr. Isley by, when the other woman’s arm jutted out and latched onto her elbow. Pulled back by much greater force than she’d anticipated coming from the other woman, Selina could only stand and gape at her like a fish out of water.

Giggling, Dr. Isley motioned at a small cart holding a few potted plants. “It’s not even supper time, yet, and I’m going around the various wards to deliver my babies to patients who’ve asked for them.” Winking, she pressed on, “They’re great company, plants! Some people even say that they can almost feel the plants listening to them more than another human being could listen…they feel and see so, _so_ very much, you know…”

Her words haunted Selina, for some reason. Whatever the cause of it happened to be, Selina knew she didn’t like it. Not one to hang around and talk about how awesome plants were all day long, she still didn’t want to be entirely offensive and rude to Dr. Isley, either.

Working hard not to be officious in her tone and approach, Selina fluttered her lashes semi-playfully at Dr. Isley. Offering her a Cheshire-Cat type of a smile, she purred out serenely, “Gee, I think that’s really cool, Doctor, but I’m not really interested, you know?” Chuckling politely, she gave the red headed woman an auspicious wave of ‘goodbye’.

“I gotta go, anyway, so let’s just talk later, okay?”

Moving backwards so the folder wasn’t visible to Dr. Isley, Selina had almost brushed past her again, when the other female called out, “First you were drawing on your uniform, and now you’ve stolen a patient file?” Tilting her head at Selina almost akin to how a parent would peer down at a naughty child, Dr. Isley added further degradation and insult by wagging her index finger back and forth at Selina.

“You see, I could’ve reported you back then, but I didn’t,” she hissed with an air of a threat lingering behind each word carefully. “All I ask is for your company in return.”

Glaring at the wagging finger, Selina spat coldly, “Stop that! I’m not a damn dog, you know!!”

“Then just join me for a while, please.”

Scoffing at the notion, Selina jabbed verbally, “And why the hell would I want to do that for, hmm?”

Selina had already decided internally that she wasn’t too fond and too keen on making close bosom friends with Dr. Pamela Isley. Since the day they met, there had been something a bit off about the woman, and it had very little to do with her love of plants and vegetation. Selina just didn’t trust her, plain and simple, and she didn’t think she ever would. Why waste time that she already felt was being wasted here, anyway?

Sauntering right up to her and getting far too close and too personal for comfort, Dr. Isley toyed with a somewhat cruel, sadistic smirk upon her face, as though trying it out. Once she’d ‘sampled’ it enough, and once she’d left a rather creepy impression on the younger woman, she delightfully announced, “I think it’ll be worth it for you because I’m visiting Joker’s room today.”

Reaching forth with a hand, she sighed and gently touched a few loose strands of Selina’s wavy blonde hair. Smirk still fluctuating on her face, she purred, “I may be wrong, but I think you want to see him, don’t you?”

As much as Selina Kyle despised Dr. Pamela Isley, she had to at least give her credit where it was most appropriately due.

She _did_ want to see Joker.

(***’’***”)

Selina stuck to the shadows of the doors and the small alcoves beneath the winding staircases as Dr. Isley travelled about the hospital, mindful enough not to make it so that a single patient caught sight of her. Word traveled quickly, here, and the last thing Selina needed was for a meddlesome patient intruding on this plan, demanding to know how and why it came to be that she was receiving ‘special treatment’. Orderlies and guards didn’t need to get involved in this, and even Dr. Isley seemed to want the same thing.

For the most part, the pair traveled down the halls of the sixth floor in silence, walking side-by-side while Dr. Isley pushed her cart of plants around. They would stop at the doors she had to deliver her ‘babies’ to, and Dr. Isley would knock on the doors, beam proudly at the patients inside, and then unlock the doors. She never stayed inside more than a few minutes, dishing out a general, basic greeting in the way of sounding cheery. Not many words were exchanged, but a lot of patients thanked her and enjoyed receiving the flowers and various plants.

Strange how a few delusional mass murderers and paranoid schizophrenics, as well as former drug addicts could feel their entire day brightening after receiving a darn plant…risible, really, but Selina wasn’t one to judge. She ‘behaved’ herself by staying out of Dr. Isley’s way, keeping quietly ‘on guard’ outside in the hall until the ‘delivery’ was complete.

Finally, they were able to move on to the seventh floor of the hospital, and it was then that Selina noticed a single Venus Fly Trap remained. What an odd plant, indeed. She knew how to put the pieces together, but Dr. Isley still felt the need to explain things to her.

“That is for Joker,” she began in a sultry tone as they dragged and pushed the cart up the last step.

Frowning, Selina asked bluntly, “So, why does he need this type of a plant? Why not roses, or a spider plant, or an Aloe Vera, or—”

Her interruption came in the way of Dr. Isley giggling away in amusement. Mildly offended, Selina forced herself to keep quiet while glaring deathly glares at the botanist. Whatever the hell it was she found ‘cute’ or amusing certainly _wasn’t_ amusing. Not where Selina was concerned.

“Joker appreciates a lot of things in life we take for granted,” Dr. Isley sighed almost forlornly, eyes shining and glistening with an odd emotion Selina was incapable of reading through. “I’ve often desired a man who knows what he wants…”

They rolled the cart right down a narrow hallway that went on and on for quite a long stretch. This hall was decorated with plenty of windows that were larger than the one in Selina’s room. They allowed for large amounts of natural sunlight to stream into the hall, and for a while, Selina was envious. This part of the hospital was rather sanitary and pleasant to look at in comparison to just a level beneath it. Why the special treatment? Was it only because as Carl had stated earlier, the more ‘insane’ and ‘dangerous’ patients were housed here? Why were they allowed more sunlight, fancier decorations, paintings, and statues to be around their rooms?

Though she didn’t peek around and try to guess which room was Joker’s, Selina kept her eyes down to Dr. Isley’s feet while they made a right turn, walked on for another thirty odd feet, and then cut to the left sharply.

Glancing up, Selina had been just about to inquire sheepishly as to how much longer it would take, when Dr. Isley made one last left turn. Since she’d stopped walking so abruptly, Selina nearly knocked into her clumsily. Before she could hiss out an insult or two, she felt her mouth turning as dry as the desert.

All the other rooms down the previous halls had been expanded greatly so that they had neighboring cells, and majority of the seventh floor had been highly populated. However, among the other rooms and cells, the hallway Selina and Dr. Isley were standing in now was absolutely barren. Not a single door stood about, except for the one and only dark door not even five inches away from Dr. Isley. The eccentric female had drawn herself so close to it, that the tip of her nose practically touched the heavy steel of the door. In spite of how ‘modern’ and lovely the rest of the seventh floor looked, this one and only hall was as dark, grimy, and decrepit as anything Selina had ever dreamt of or read about in horror stories.

If this was in fact Joker’s room, Selina felt a little sorry. There weren’t any neighboring rooms, and Joker was all by himself. In fact, this door was so further down the hall, that the cheery and upbeat sounds of the other patients further down couldn’t be heard anymore. It was as though they were now on another planet…

Eyeing the worried look upon her face, Dr. Isley cooed, “Oh, I know! It isn’t fair for him to be secluded here without a soul keeping him company!! I’m going to put in a good word to Carl and get him down a level if I can!”

While she prattled on, Selina drew her nose up in disgust. As far as she was concerned, this man was mentally unwell, had killed six people, and had no doubt been planning on murdering more citizens who’d done nothing to him. He deserved to rot in a deep dark hole in the ground; not to be given privacy in a hotel, practically. He was being treated like royalty as it was, and if Dr. Isley didn’t see it, then perhaps she needed more than eyeglasses to open her vision to that.

Pushing Selina aside gently when she glared at the door as if it’d offended her somehow, Dr. Isley cradled the pink and green Venus Fly Trap against her chest, and she knocked on the door twice softly. Batting her eyelashes at it almost flirtatiously while Selina braced her back against the wall to the right of the door handle, Dr. Isley sang out, “Joker!!! Special delivery!!”

Rolling her eyes towards the ceiling at the ridiculous display, Selina had to bite down hard on her tongue many times within the next five minutes. Dr. Isley sighed again while stroking the stem of the plant almost lovingly. It didn’t move, but Selina could’ve sworn it grew pinker upon being touched so fondly and gently.

“Joker!!” Dr. Isley sang out again, “I have a gift for you!!”

….

Nothing but silence rang from the other side of the door, and Selina shook her head at Dr. Isley. If it were herself in place, she would’ve given up, but evidently, Dr. Isley had other plans.

Doggedly, the other women yanked out her keys, and with utmost confidence, she unlocked the door. Before she opened it, she turned back to Selina and whispered under her breath, “Don’t say a word, are we clear?”

Selina wanted to say: ‘Crystal’, but then again, technically, she’d been warned against saying a word…

She only nodded and hoped it would suffice.

Seemingly content with that, without any other delays, Dr. Isley opened the door. Selina did her part to hang back, but her ears were high on the alert for anything. Pushing her long, thick wavy strands to rest behind her ears, she focused as much as she could to hear anything strange or interesting.

Eerily, she found that when the door had been tightly sealed shut, there hadn’t been but a single sound emanating from the door. However, now the Dr. Isley had opened it and wandered in, Selina heard more than the botanist’s voice…she heard music. Her ears never deceived her. Right now, in the middle of Joker’s room, soft, gentle, catchy music played. Selina couldn’t trace the artist or the song title itself, but a lovely orchestra played in the back while the singers boldly took the lead. Their voices were crisp, clear, and each and every word they sang out reverberated almost potently right into the center of Selina’s eardrums.

Strangely, as though someone had bewitched her, she wanted to sway and dance to the beat of such sweet music…

_They asked me how I knew,_

_My true love was true,_

_Oh, I of course replied,_

_Something here inside cannot be denied…_

As she’d been in the midst of enjoying the glorious tune, of course, there came an interruption. A damn rude one, no less, but it was to be expected in Arkham State Hospital. While Selina nearly dozed off and slumped against the wall, the PA system blared on, all loud, shaky, and static for a moment. It caused a rift in the sweet sensation and pleasurable experience she gleaned from enjoying the music, and she grit her teeth in displeasure.

“DR. ISLEY! DR. ISLEY! PAGING DR. ISLEY!!!” A woman’s loud voice blasted away in a warning tone that demanded seriousness and attention, “DR. ISLEY! THERE APPEARS TO BE A PROBLEM IN THE GREENHOUSES!!! YOUR ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED IMMEDIATELY!!”

That drew out the oddball of a woman with fiery red hair. Like a bat out of hell, Dr. Isley practically flew out of Joker’s room. Her glasses nearly fell off the bridge of her nose, but she shoved them back into place with a trembling middle finger. Turning to stare briefly at Selina, she rasped weakly, “S-stay there!! I’ll be back soon!!”

Selina could hardly nod, but she remained still while observing Dr. Isley floating away, lab coat fluttering like a ghost’s body in the air. Transfixed because of the music, Selina forgot that the door to Joker’s room was still wide open…all she heard was beautiful music…

_They said someday you’ll find,_

_All who love are blind,_

_Oh, when your heart’s on fire,_

_You must realize,_

_Smoke gets in your eyes…_

Wanting to chase after it, Selina resigned to her natural inclinations. Wordlessly, she pushed herself off the bricked wall, and she somehow summoned up the stamina to pace into the open doorway of Joker’s room. Invitingly, it beckoned her, though the music had been her true desire.

As soon as she took the first step inside the room, Selina’s eyes informed her that while from the outside, things seemed dark and bleak, when she was already peering inside the room, her mind wasn’t playing any tricks on her in the slightest. Joker’s room wasn’t as large or as small in comparison to her own, she’d discovered. He too had a small window in the corner near his bed, and the furniture in the room wasn’t grand. However, he did have a desk, a lamp sitting on top of its smooth surface, and many, many pages spread out across the desk.

Eyes wandering along the walls, Selina resisted the urge to gasp out in complete shock once she caught sight of Joker’s ‘décor’.

_So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed,_

_To think they could doubt my love…_

Joker’s walls had been decorated almost from top to bottom with crude drawings Selina could’ve easily mistaken for the ones a child in a kindergarten class had done. Perhaps comprised mostly of crayons, the chicken scratch drawings covered the entire length of the four walls, that Selina hardly was able to see the yellow-white shades of the crude paint there. Yellow tape stuck the pages to the walls, and as Selina scanned them all, she found nothing short of insanity, disorganization, panic, and seclusion evident within the drawings.

Some of them were about a little boy, so it seemed, and others were of a sad clown. In some versions of the stories the drawings were trying to portray and present, the clown was in a sense welcomed and loved by all. He was surrounded by little children in a room, and his big, bright red nose could be seen from afar. Everyone was laughing and dancing with him, and there was a warm and gentle tone about those drawings. On the other hand, if Selina looked past those ‘happy’ versions of the clown, another tale was to be told.

On a vastly opposing side of the board, the other cartoonish drawings vividly showed the same clown running while crying big fat teardrops that looked as large and as thick as raindrops. Dark clouds hung above his head, and bright yellow lightning seemed to be striking him down. People pointed and laughed, but this time, they had dark expressions. Their eyes were black and beady, and they were throwing things at him. The clown was so, so sad. He was bleeding from the head, then the face, and in another drawing, the clown had been hit by a moving car…

And the music still played on…

_Yet today my love has flown away,_

_I am without my love…_

Where she’d once enjoyed the music, now, Selina found she abhorred and detested it. The voices of the singers and the band was distorted, and an odd rhythm that sounded akin to someone shifting their feet weakly along the tiled floor hit her ears. Shaken, Selina glared away from the drawings, and refocused her vision on a shadow that had been moving back and forth in front of the window the entire time.

Back and forth it swayed and swayed, and then would twirl at almost forty-five degrees in an angle. A circle here, a circle there, a twist here and there, and then long, stick-like arms rose high above a head covered in black, wavy hair.

_Now laughing friends deride,_

_Tears I can not hide,_

_Oh, so I smile and say,_

_When a lovely flame dies,_

_Smoke gets in your eyes…_

The arms reached out from above the head to the sides, shoulders panning out widely. Along the wall, the shadow looked horrendous; enormous in size, looming over everything in the room and smothering Selina, practically. Her presence in the room did nothing to disturb the man currently swaying and dancing about. This was _his_ world; this was _his_ domain…

Here he was, in all his flesh and blood; the glorified, the worshipped, the revered, the awe-inspiring fool of crime himself.

_Smoke gets in your eyes…_

She’d finally been caught in the same room with Joker. Selina was now in his world.

_Smoke gets in your eyes!_


	6. First Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if anyone noticed this, but as I was watching Joker over again, I noticed that throughout Arthur's joke book, there were a lot of disturbing and sexual images of women pretty much naked and doing...let's just say 'interesting' things...  
> It took me about 4 times of watching the movie to count how many times a pornographic image of a woman was pasted in his book, but it's there. It was a feature I just had to add in to portray how sexually frustrated I feel Arthur was throughout the movie.

Thankfully, once the music ceased playing, Joker finished with his dancing. Ending in the position of having his back turned to her, Joker didn’t even seem to notice that he had a new ‘guest’ in his room. His gift of the Venus Fly Trap rested on the far-right corner of his desk, open and turned towards him as though it had been enjoying the show all along.

Somewhat disoriented, perhaps, Joker raised his right hand, and as it trembled slightly, he ran it through his messy black hair. Frowning at its shade the moment his limb slid along its length, Selina noticed many things at once. For one, Joker’s hair had been slightly cut. Still resting down to his shoulders, the split ends of the tips had been snipped away, giving him a bit of a ‘cleaner’ appearance. Then, there was the matter of Joker’s hair color having changed. Selina knew that he’d dyed it green once. She wasn’t that much of an ignorant girl not to notice that. However, since she’d already had the ‘privilege’ of viewing his photos, Selina immediately tracked the change in hair color. Arthur Fleck’s natural hair color seemed to be dark brown, and yet now, it was a deep black. She wondered when he’d colored it, and more importantly, why…

His body frame was rather thin, making it so that his white uniform appeared to be huge. It hung loosely around him, almost like a parachute. Anytime he moved, his clothes would flap, resembling wings of a bird…or an extra pair of skin.

The more she gaped at him, the more Selina found she was truly disgusted. Arthur Fleck was a repulsive human being, not just inside, but also on the outside. Seeing how skinny he was, Selina had to wonder just how the hell it was possible for a man of this size to still be alive in the first place. The more nurturing side of the young woman wanted nothing more than to dash ahead towards Arthur Fleck, grip him by the wrists, shake him roughly, and scream out that he needed to eat a few good, heavy meals.

She was truly disgusted by herself and her own thoughts, and she internally berated herself for feeling sorry for this creature yet again. But she couldn’t help it; when she saw him swaying and fumbling about almost brokenly, her high levels of empathy and capacity for care kicked in. Seeing ‘Joker’ up close in person drew a lot of odd emotions from Selina, and she had no idea what to make of them, and what to do. Everything welled up inside her like a massive, twisted ball of yarn. The strings jutting and poking out in several odd angles confused her, but they also seduced her into wanting to ‘play the game’…

It was almost irresistible when the large ball of yarn was dangling about in the air before her playful eyes, inviting her, calling out to her, and encouraging her to take a swipe at it. She could always work it out! She could tug and toy with it, making it out to be whatever she wanted…whatever she needed it to be…

She couldn’t help it.

A tiny noise abruptly escaped her lips when she tried inhaling sharply, and it finally caught Joker’s attention. He slowly turned around to look in her direction, to face her. Knowing it would’ve been in her best interest to move and get the hell away from the man as quickly as she could, Selina begged her feet to move.

….

But they wouldn’t…no matter how hard she tried, there she remained, frozen and rooted to the spot.

It was almost as if someone had forcefully glued both her feet down to the floor strongly with some kind of crazy, super glue. Willing her body to get it together so she could flee, Selina peered down at her feet, eyes burning in both frustration, but also from the fact that she hadn’t blinked in almost over a full minute. Had she lost sensation in her feet?! What was wrong with her body?? Wriggling her toes, she found to her immediate relief that no, she hadn’t lost all sensation and coordination in her toes. Everything appeared to be in perfect working condition. Her knees could still slightly bend and shift forward, and she of course wasn’t possessed otherwise. She _could_ still move…she just chose not to??

Why?!? She had no reason to stay here in front of Joker!!!

….

Or did she???

Searching for the hidden answer, a rather desperate Selina Kyle gazed into the dark, troubled eyes of the man standing there before her…only to find that his eyes weren’t at all troubled. No, instead of anguish, guilt, remorse, or even rage, Joker’s eyes held a particular sheen to them that reflected a lot of childish and puckish resonance emanating forth. The luster Selina felt and discovered there was abhorrent, especially when she was reminded of the pure and simple fact that this man had murdered his own mother, a co-worker and supposed friend, three young men who had their whole lives ahead of themselves, as well as a well-respected and highly prominent TV show host.

What was there to feel sorry for?? Joker didn’t even look sorry!! No, he looked impish, he looked amused, and he hadn’t stopped dancing even though the music had turned off, and even though a ‘guest’ had graced his room unannounced. Anyone else would’ve possibly resorted to screaming for her to leave, throwing things at her, and losing themselves to raw fear and shock. But Joker surely didn’t…no, he was something else entirely.

He kept on dancing as though the world expected him to, and how on earth he found the energy to do so when he was terribly underweight deeply bothered Selina. Desperately trying to avoid staring into his soulless eyes, when she took to studying his face, she found that he was relatively pale. Possibly coming from the fact that he no doubt spent majority of his time indoors, he looked sickly, but he didn’t…he still had quite of lot of energy and nerve to keep on spinning and twirling before her.

His legs seemed rather long due to the weight loss he’d suffered, and majority of his bones were visible past the collar of his shirt when he dipped himself down low and bent in his dance. Though the bags beneath his eyes had somewhat cleared up, and though he didn’t look at all that old for his age, she could tell that he wasn’t exerting all his stamina. He was just barely getting by in his movements, purposefully holding back, perhaps.

It was all part of his sick game, of course; all of this was a means to an end. He was definitely trying to put on the role of a weak man, victimized yet again by such a bad, cruel world that hated him, mocked him, and wanted him to die…what nerve.

Infuriated already, Selina licked her dry lips, and she was then incapable of comprehending her loss of control. There was no way her brain could catch up to her mouth, and she impulsively got to talking. Had she been in another frame of mind, she knew she could’ve perhaps controlled and composed herself a lot better, but this wasn’t the time nor the place. Emotions betrayed her as much as they did with others, and she lost herself to her vicious pride and enormous ego.

Lifting her head high, with an air of arrogance about herself, she hissed, “Why’re you dancing?”

Never thinking she would even receive an answer, Selina had been about to give up entirely on this. It was foolish, it was unwise, and it was only liable to get her deeply into trouble. She wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near Joker, let alone speaking to him. Not only that, but she would be putting Dr. Isley at a huge risk of landing in trouble as well, especially considering how the other young woman had willingly allowed her to tag along…

Yes…it was better to leave, right???

….

But why wouldn’t her damn feet move?! Why was it so difficult to get out of here?!? What was wrong with her???

Wincing while she felt her knees locking in place and her toes practically hooking on and digging into the floor through her socks and sneakers, Selina started to panic. Was Joker going to attack her?? What would he say?? What would he do??

….

It seemed like he wasn’t going to do anything other than dance, at this point. He was completely in love with it, turning and swaying himself about to a tune and beat no one else was going to ever hear. As he moved, his body-although quite thin-contorted and shaped into something Selina could only describe as a ‘mesmerizing form of art’. There had been simply no other way to describe what this man was capable of doing with his body. He was even bending and twisting shadows, making the lights in his room his friend. Tricking them into doing his magical bidding, the orange-yellow shade of the lights glided along his face and neck, stretching it out. His shadow loomed and lurched above behind himself, giving it a haunting, menacing essence. Any minute now, it would swoop down and swallow her whole…

It was all enough to make her sick.

The need to lash out was exponentially high within the young blonde. Lips curling back in a silent snarl, she gathered her defenses before rasping out in a gravelly tone, “Why’re you dancing?”

Would he finally answer her???

It seemed Selina’s wish finally came true right then and there. Raising his arms as though delivering a speech to the masses, Joker faced her directly, but he thankfully hadn’t moved any closer to her. It took almost forever for his eyes to slide up along her legs, her thighs, past her abdomen, her stomach, along her chest, her throat, and finally, Selina Kyle and Arthur Fleck were gazing into each other’s eyes. His were a mix of a color trapped between blue? Green? Black?!? Selina couldn’t tell at all. The lights were playing too many tricks on her, and she felt irritation sweeping drastically into her system.

Anger spiking up, she acridly snapped out, “Answer me!!”

Ignoring her sour, bitter form of putrid anger thrown his way, Joker merely pointed to an old calendar nailed to the wall close to the headrest of his cot. The photo displayed right at the top for the month was…shameful, to say the least. It consisted of a supermodel, and she was topless. Thankfully, however, she at least was wearing some kind of underwear. It appeared to be a red thong, and she’d spread her legs obscenely widely. Her breasts were full, supple, and her curves all were there in the right places to illustrate and show off her hourglass figure.

Yes, a lot of men would of course ‘drool’ over someone looking like this. Why would Joker be any different? He was a _man_ ; he was still Arthur Fleck. As unappealing and disgusting as it was thinking of someone else’s sexuality, especially Joker’s, it was the only way in which Selina could prevent herself from feeling all that surprised.

At the end of the day, he was still a basic human being with basic needs and desires. He likely also masturbated, watched pornography, had had sex before in his life, had wet dreams, had gone on dates, flirted with women, and thought of lewd things to do with a girlfriend. So what? Was that _really_ such a big deal to her?? Was it _that_ impossible to think of Joker as a human being? As a _man_??

….

Perhaps…

Tossing all that aside for the moment due to how distracted she’d already been, Selina drew back and just watched as Joker pointed to today’s date on his calendar. The date had been circled in red, and a tiny smiley face sat in the center of the box reserved for the day. It had to be an important day…

As if reading through her silent assumptions, Joker giggled excitedly. “I’m dancing because I’m celebrating!!” He sounded so very much like a young boy or a child as opposed to a man almost at forty years of age. Even his smile seemed lopsided and youthful in essence…

Not wanting to lose him right when he’d just spoken up, Selina dug in for further information. Not needing to really feign interest, she paused, inhaled sharply, and then asked, “Celebrating? Celebrating what? Your birthday?” She’d expected him to say ‘yes’, given how childish his dancing and giggling had become.

However, instead, Joker shook his head back and forth energetically, his black, wavy hair curtaining around his forehead and eyes. The way his hair fell around his eyes made him seem more deranged and madder, eerily, but Selina didn’t back down from his appearance. Whether or not he’d tried being intimidating on purpose was up for debate, but something she wasn’t interested in thinking about for the time being.

What mattered was his answer…and there was one.

Boldly, Joker swayed back and forth, and he chuckled as he threw his head back and smiled up at the ceiling fondly. “Two years ago today, I killed my mother…that’s why I’m so happy!! I always dance on this day the most!!!”

He lost himself to a fresh round of insane giggles that seemed to never want to stop. Louder and louder his laughter became, and soon, he dipped his head back down. Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes, and as Selina’s jaw dropped in pure horror, she saw Joker’s arms trembling. Carefully, he brought them up towards his neck, and he wrapped his hands around the ghostly pallor of his throat. Chest heaving in and out, he wheezed, his face turned slightly pink, and his eyes clenched tightly shut.

And he _still_ went on laughing, and laughing, and laughing…it sounded like he was about to choke at one point, and Selina found herself genuinely wishing and hoping that he would drop dead. Mothers were something of a sore topic for Selina. She had been very close with her own mother, and while they hadn’t always gotten along, they’d loved and respected each other almost as best friends would’ve. What’s more was that mothers were responsible for bringing their children into the world. This applied to Joker, as well. Without his mother, he wouldn’t be alive today, and the fact that he’d openly and so willingly admitted to mercilessly killing his mother set Selina Kyle right off.

Temper burning and flaring to a murderous point she was certain she hadn’t felt in years, it surged forth like the waves of a strong ocean. That ocean soon turned into hot lava spilling and bubbling up to the surface. It rose higher and higher, and Selina felt herself perspiring greatly. Her back, shoulders, neck, and ears were alight and dripping with sweat. Anger consumed her, and as she gave into the warpath, Joker’s wheezing laughter got to her more than she could tolerate.

Enough was enough.

Without even thinking about it properly, Selina gathered her strength, kicked off her feet, and leapt through the air at Joker. Right hand drawn back, she used all the force she had to slash across the air downwards at Joker’s left cheek. It was a perfect aim and perfect landing. She cut through his skin just enough to make her point clear. Deftly, she’d scratched him quite brutally across the cheek, causing him to break out of his stupid laughter. At least _that_ annoyance had been put to bed.

In shock and pain, Joker stumbled backwards, tripping over a foot stool, a chair before his desk, and he then crashed quite clumsily over his desk. Tripping over his feet while he tried finding purchase in the edge of his desk in order to support his own weight, that failed when Selina swiped at him again with her right hand. Her nails were rather long, still, and she used them wisely to her own advantage. Not one to really fight like a ‘girl’ in the sense that she would kick, claw, or pull anyone’s hair, Selina had wanted nothing more than to be able to fight Joker like a ‘man’. As silly as it sounded even mentally, it absolutely was what she felt he deserved, and she wanted to move forth with that as an option.

….

But she didn’t trust him in the slightest. This wasn’t the same as fighting someone on the streets or defending Holly from her pimp, abusive boyfriend. This was Joker, this was Arthur Fleck. He had managed to make his way sneakily onto the Murray Franklin show armed and ready to kill, and yet no one had caught onto it. Murray’s security team and agents couldn’t have even predicted it, and Selina was far from stupid. There was just no telling what Joker was capable of, and whether or not he was even hiding a weapon in his room somewhere. If he’d been able to make it onto a live TV broadcast with a gun, then what was stopping him from concealing a shank or another gun in his room??

It certainly was a possibility, and it wasn’t a risk Selina was willing to take. Not at all allowing him to get up, she swiftly kneed him as hard as she could in the sternum, and then kicked him once roughly in the solar plexus. The result had been marvelous. Joker fell back down onto his side, and as he rolled along the floor, Selina mistakenly thought he was in great amounts of pain. As she approached him to claw at his face once more in the hopes that she would decorate the right side of his cheek with identical lines that matched her first four fingers, she’d been hit with a blow to the gut she’d never been anticipating in a million years.

Joker was laughing his head off. It was as if she’d told him the funniest joke in the world. He was laughing so hard that he began crying. Clutching at his skeletal chest with one hand, the opposite hand’s fist clenched tightly, and over and over again, he pounded and bashed it against the tiles. Wheezing and rasping, he doubled over in loud laughter, and every once in a while, it would be followed by a rough cough.

He was having the time of his life, and at her expense.

“You son of a bitch…” Diving at him again, Selina wasted no time advancing. Throwing him a minacious glare that almost set the room on fire, Selina spat with contempt, “I’ll slice your god damn ugly face right off!!” With that said, she raised her hand higher, and just when she’d been about to bring it down and cut through his skin again, a strong hand latched onto her wrist tightly.

It trapped her in a violent vice-like grip, and Selina could do nothing to fight against it. She’d been so lost and distracted thinking about all the ignominy Joker deserved due to his recent confession, that she’d failed to notice two large guards standing on either side of her in the room, and a man dressed fancily in a black three-piece suit holding onto her wrist. He’d been the one who’d stopped her right in the nick of time before four more fingernail marks could’ve sliced through Joker’s unmarred right cheek.

Now that she’d been rudely interrupted in the middle of her ‘work’, Selina surveyed the ‘damage’ properly. Emotions still bubbling and churning within the pit of her belly like a babbling brook, she was unable to calm herself down, even when she saw how Joker’s ruby red blood glistened beneath the lights in the ceiling. Yes, those four scratch marks looked rather appealing on his pale skin…she could get used to such a sight.

To think that she’d been the one responsible for them appearing on his skin in the first place sent shivers up along her spine, and they were exhilarating, pleasant shivers. This was truly rewarding…

Sadly, the man holding onto her wrist didn’t find it as charming as Selina had. Yanking her back, he pressed her arm behind her back, no doubt for his own protection. A guard approached soon after, and as Joker’s giggles finally died down, the guard pulled out a pair of handcuffs and placed them over Selina’s wrists. Binding them together while he spun the young woman around, she sneered as she looked at the man who’d prevented her from lashing out more at Joker.

This man was almost six feet tall. He wore sharp, clean eyeglasses, and his hair was neatly trimmed. Dark brown in color, he’d slicked it back mildly, and he looked to be just about thirty or so in age. His suit looked and smelled as clean as ever, and it wafted directly into Selina’s nostrils enough to make her feel nauseous. After studying him for as long as she had, she felt that he looked rather effeminate.

He had long eyelashes, sky-blue eyes, full, plump red lips most women would envy, a perfectly chiseled face, prominent cheekbones that showed off good stature and great health, as well as a generally pleasant demeanor about himself. Shockingly, for his height and size, he’d been rather strong and forceful. Spinning Selina towards the door, the young woman paused in awe once she saw Dr. Pamela Isley peering curiously at her.

Without anyone having to say a word, Selina knew precisely who this man was. As he tugged and marched her out of Joker’s room, she bowed her head sarcastically at him.

“How was your vacation, Dr. Jonathan Crane?”

Snorting at her barbed words, he merely grinned then, eyes flashing dangerously. Motioning over at a guard, he leaned into them and whispered softly, “I think it’s about time we arranged for Miss Kyle to have her fingernails cut, wouldn’t you agree?”

As they exited the room, fled down the hall, and disappeared into the distance like tiny dots wavering in the horizon, no one heard Joker slowly getting up to his feet. Plopping himself down onto a stool, he let out a broken breath and stared ahead at the tightly shut door. Eyes turning dark and mysterious, he slowly and carefully lifted a hand to touch at his cut cheek. Dabbing at the few drops of blood there, he coated his fingers in the liquid, and then brought his fingers over before his eyes to gaze upon them intently.

Ever so slowly, a sinister grin painted its way onto his face while he repeatedly whispered only to himself.

“What’s her name…what’s her name…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, for the sake of this story, I am writing Dr. Crane as how Cillian Murphy portrayed him in The Dark Knight films! ^_^


	7. Damaged Bridges

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Low key, I love making references to Selina being Catwoman and Dr. Crane being known as Scarecrow already!

True to his word, Dr. Crane arranged time for Selina to have a ‘lovely’ visit with the nurse. Supervising the entire ordeal, Dr. Crane made himself comfortable in a dark brown chair right across from Selina’s, while a chubby, round nurse with long black hair seemed more than thrilled to get out a nail clipper, as well as a nail file in order to clip and file down Selina’s long, sharp nails.

Twitching and writhing in despair at having her beautiful, thick nails cut away, emotionally, Selina felt wrecked. Anytime the supercilious nurse clipped her fingernails, it seriously hurt more than she thought it would. It went on anyway until all ten of Selina’s fingernails had been cut and filed down so shortly, that it actually burned the flesh beneath them. Next, the nurse took out a small bowl of water and a cloth, dipping the fabric into the bowl of warm liquid as she washed and thoroughly cleansed the blood off Selina’s hands, and the remainder of it beneath her nails.

Eyeing it all warily, the nurse threw a worried glance over at Dr. Jonathan Crane as if to ask what the hell had happened for the dried-up blood to be there in the first place. Patiently, the younger man smiled far too pleasantly. “It’s not hers, don’t worry.”

How reassuring, indeed.

One more sharp nail was filed down, and Selina really began wriggling in her seat. The nurses’ office reminded her all too well of her own family doctor’s office. Everything in here smelled of disinfectant, vinegar, and while things weren’t exactly ‘sanitary’, paper towels resting on dispensers appeared white enough, and an examining table leaning against a wall with dark red cushions brought back so many memories of a younger Selina Kyle being forced to lie on her back while her pediatrician shone a light in her eyes, checked her ears, took her blood pressure…

The nail file scratched along a cuticle accidentally, effectively frightening Selina.

‘Sniiiiip!!’

Even the sound worried her, and she leapt back on her seat and gave out a warning hiss through clenched teeth. That alone did wonders as far as amusing Dr. Jonathan Crane went. Tapping the tip of his near perfect nose, he chuckled out pompously, “I suppose all cats hate being declawed, don’t they, Miss Kyle?”

Turning gaunt, the nurse hurried along with her task, and she was all too eager to flee from the office. Carrying along the pink-red bowl of water, she then gathered the soaked cloths, and waddled out of the room as Dr. Crane condescendingly waved ‘goodbye’ to her.

“Don’t forget to close the door!” he called out haughtily after her, smiling all pearly white teeth when she shut the door with a resolute ‘click’. Turning towards his only companion in the office, then, Dr. Crane sighed, “Alone at last.”

This statement caused Selina to shudder in disgust. “Dr. Crane,” she began gently, hopeful that whatever he had for her in the way of a punishment wasn’t going to be that harsh. “I’m sorry about before…I just didn’t think—”

Clasping his hands together and folding them neatly in his lap, the psychiatrist draped one leg over the other while gazing intently at Selina. Tilting his head at her, he cut in dryly with, “Oh, I know that thinking isn’t exactly one of your strengths, Miss Kyle; that much was quite obvious when in spite of being warned mightily against it, you wandered openly into Arthur Fleck’s room.” Wagging his finger at her, he tsked, “Naughty of you. Don’t you know that curiosity killed the cat?”

Brows furrowed deeply, Selina hissed arrogantly, “I wasn’t trying to go into his room! I was merely helping Dr. Pamela Isley with some of her plant deliveries!!” She truly hoped that this admission-although somewhat exaggerated-wouldn’t land Dr. Isley in hot water…Selina just didn’t think she would be able to handle multiple angry people following her and making her life a living hell, more so than it already was.

Oh, the headaches that all would surely bring.

She held her ground, however, gritting her teeth together while trying not to show how impatient and anxious she truly was. Dr. Crane’s persistent silence and watchful eyes didn’t exactly ‘soothe’ her or make her feel more comfortable, but she was willing to tolerate it. She reminded herself to be on her ‘best behavior’. She was being watched in more ways than one, by many pairs of eyes from individuals ready to dish out epitimesis at any given chance.

Almost begging, she purred, “I want to help others, Dr. Crane! I didn’t mean to attack Joker or cause any trouble!!”

“Hmm,” the handsome psychiatrist hummed on a deep note, “as much as your little play here is lovely to watch, you can’t really expect me to buy into it, right Miss Kyle?”

….

Frozen for a moment, she had to force her jaw to work as she spat out, “I’m sorry?”

“You heard,” leaning forth in his seat, he seemed to be quite ravenous as he sang, “I’m a _professional_ , Miss Kyle; I’ve seen closer to at least sixty or so cases much like yours, where people try to play into a certain mask in order to convince others of a specific narrative they’re weaving together.” Biting down on his lower lip, he repressed a malicious grin before carrying on.

“I’ve heard all the sob stories, I’ve sat through the plays, I’ve listened to the pleading, the begging, the waterworks, everything!” Reiterating, he clearly enunciated for her, “ _Everything_.” Full of his own confidence, he puffed out his chest, brushed his expensive suit free of any dirt or dust, and then readjusted his white tie. Tossing Selina a half-assed grin, he cooed, “It’ll probably be a lot better for you to just come clean about all this, Miss Kyle…don’t be afraid to confront what frightens or challenges you…”

As his voice hauntingly surrounded her, the younger woman sniped scornfully, “I’m not afraid of anything.” When she noticed him huffing and puffing at her, obviously intending to call her a liar, perhaps, she elucidated, “There’s not a damn thing in this world that scares me anymore, Dr. Crane. I learned to grow thick skin in order to survive what Gotham’s turned into these days.”

Stroking his smooth, hairless chin, a deep-in-thought Dr. Jonathan Crane rasped, “I’m sure you’ve spent many years trying to convince yourself of that, Miss Kyle, but I know better…” Lips twitching up, an almost Jack’o Lantern type of a grin merged onto his features, giving him a rather twisted, wrapped appearance. Selina’s spine twitched, and then shivers ran along her skin. The room had suddenly grown so cold, and it was quite noticeable even from where she was seated. It was now practically cold enough to hang meat in the room.

Playing on her insecurities and discomforts, Dr. Crane testily hissed her way, “The fact of the matter is that _everyone_ fears something, Miss Kyle, and I’m a _master_ at uncovering those fears. I want to pick your brain right now, pull a string here, poke at something there, just so I can see what things lurking in the dark cause you to shriek out and cry for your mother…”

Mother… _mother…_

She needed to leave. Selina’s fight or flight instincts kicked in far too quickly, overpowering much of what else it was she wanted to say or do. The orectic response to being provoked in such a manner was for her to flee from the room and stay as far away from Dr. Jonathan Crane as possible. In Selina’s mind, he was already deemed unworthy of her contemptuous words, and he seemed just as insane as the rest of the patients here.

Birds of the same feather…

However, she hadn’t been lying when she’d informed him that she’d grown an extra layer of thick skin to protect herself. When faced with the parvenu of society, and the bourgeoisie, as a skilled actress, she was trained to dissimulate, so she had no trouble hiding her feelings off-stage away from prying eyes. As such, those cobalt eyes happened to be assessing her right now, daring to push her closely enough to the brink of madness…of explosion…all for Dr. Jonathan Crane’s delight…or for his entertainment, possibly.

Well. Now that she’d sniffed out his ‘game’, she’d decided that she wasn’t going to give him the pleasure. As long as she remained silent, she knew he wasn’t going to have much of a chance to get into her head.

Smiling away as gently as she could, she only offered apologetically, “I didn’t mean to make anyone upset, least of all Dr. Isley.”

Waving her off in boredom, Dr. Crane murmured, “She can handle herself, but she did regale to me that she _had_ requested of you not to venture into Arthur Fleck’s room, Miss Kyle. Your blatant disregard for the rules and instructions given to yourself is one thing, but lashing out and physically assaulting another patient…” Eyebrows flew up, and he let out a low whistle. “That’s a whole kettle of fish I don’t think even I myself could rescue you from.”

She didn’t want to be rescued. She’d never asked anyone for that courtesy. Rolling her eyes at Dr. Crane’s sententious threats disguised as a ‘speech’, Selina knew that the young man insisted upon entertaining this lousy excuse for a game. This was all it was for Dr. Crane; a power trip. It was more than plausible that he always needed to be the cynosure, the center of the world before everyone. People such as Dr. Jonathan Crane bored Selina to no end, and they were the very apotheosis of grating simpletons. She’d already met plenty of people in Gotham City almost akin to how Dr. Crane behaved. Meeting them throughout her days in school, out on the streets, in shopping malls, at the movies…they were everywhere. She wasn’t entirely surprised, but she hated that they toyed with her kindness, her patience, and her remorse. She didn’t have it to freely give out.

Turning her nose up snobbishly at her therapist, Selina rebuked harshly, “I don’t need your pity here, Dr. Crane; I can take care of myself.”

Wiping his hands along the kneecaps of his suit, Dr. Crane nodded as if agreeing with her, but then he snorted. It was a rather crude, execrable move on his part, and he seemed to realize it as soon as possible. Trying to gain some composure, he cleared his throat before shrugging at her. “And what do you suppose would have happened had I not shown up right on time in Arthur Fleck’s room then, Miss Kyle? Hmm?” Taunting her just with his piercing gaze alone, he further prodded her, “Do you _really_ expect me to believe for even half a second that you seriously had everything under control?? Hmm? That you could absolutely fend for yourself in that room?”

….

This wasn’t good. Dr. Crane was too much too soon instilling a lot of fear and doubts within Selina, and it made her despise him so much more for that. What had happened to her confidence about an hour ago?? Where had her strength and passion disappeared to?? Of course she knew how to take care of herself!! She’d been on her own for years!! She didn’t need to rely on anyone!!

Voicing this aloud, she cried out in protest, “I could’ve taken him right out!! He’s nothing and a nobody!”

“Scratching Arthur Fleck to death is _not_ the damn solution, Miss Kyle, and I think you’re aware of that.” It seemed that their ‘time’ had come to an end, for Dr. Crane rose to his feet, and he suddenly gave off the impression that he was looking down upon Selina. All too tall, he loomed over her like a stocky scarecrow swaying about in an open field on a windy day.

Raising his head and walking around her in circles like some mighty God, Dr. Crane spoke out softly, but loudly enough that only Selina was able to hear him. “Consider this the one and _only_ chance you’ll have. You won’t be shown an ounce of leniency should you break the rules ever again, am I clear, Miss Kyle?”

Biting her tongue, Selina turned away from him. That proved to be a poor choice, for Dr. Crane soon flew right before her face. An index finger capriciously snuck beneath her chin, forcefully dipping her neck back so that she was looking up into his fractious eyes. That cold, bony finger felt so much like a stick jutting into her soft, warm flesh, and Selina hated it.

“I said, am I clear, Miss Kyle?” Chuckling deeply after she nodded faintly, he added, “I loathe repeating myself, almost as much as I know you loathe me, Miss Kyle. Why don’t we co-operate and try not to make each other’s lives a living hell while we’re here, hmm?”

She wriggled and wrenched her head away from his abhorrent finger. The spot beneath her chin where he’d poked and rubbed almost burned…

Sighing ardently, his eyes grew so full of something primeval that it sickened the young woman right down from her head to her toes. That same level of putrid sickness stunned and kept her trapped there beneath the psychiatrist’s minacious glare.

“I promise I’ll make it worth your while,” he toyed with his words carefully. “Instead of writing you up, Miss Kyle, this little incident can stay between us…”

Hanging her head, Selina nodded once in her confirmation. It was all she could do, and there was no way on Earth she was going to drop down and plead and beg this monster posing as a decent man for forgiveness. She would rather die right there on the spot than do such a baseless thing.

Understanding, Dr. Crane pet her once on the shoulder. “Whatever happened to poor Arthur Fleck shall be written up as…shall we say, ‘cat scratch fever’, Miss Kyle?”

Dr. Crane’s insane, boisterous guffaws carried on monstrously from the spot where Selina was sitting, all the way up until he’d exited the room and crossed his way down the hallway leading up to the nurses’ office.

Selina never thought she would be able to rid herself of that shrill, evil laughter.

(***’’***”)

As it so happened, trust took a long time to gain, and in less than a heartbeat, it was broken. Learning that firsthand, Selina could hardly look Carl in the eyes a few days after her initial meeting with Dr. Jonathan Crane. Evidently, the psychiatric practitioner was incapable of keeping his mouth shut, so it seemed. He’d ‘warned’ Carl to keep a close eye out on Selina, labeling her as a ‘rebellious sort’.

Damn bastard.

The discordant, frictional grief didn’t end there, unfortunately. Where Carl hard once treated Selina like a friend, now, he instead scowled at her until she shrank back from the heated intensity of it. Anytime she drew close to his office, his eyes glowered at her, tracing and tracking every step she took from afar, cursing her all the way up until she arrived at her destination right before the window barrier between their bodies.

Carl would then cough out jagged, clipped words to her, highly indicative of wanting her to go away. He wasn’t at all in the mood to chat these days, always claiming he was ‘busy’, that his mind was ‘occupied’, and that he had an urgent phone call to attend to. Selina knew he was lying right through his teeth; his phone wasn’t even plugged in for the rest of the week. He didn’t want to answer her questions, nor did he want to speak with her for more than a few minutes. Only when she begged and pleaded him did he eventually break down one Wednesday evening after supper.

Leaning over the counter, Carl hissed acidly at Selina, “Look, you best go on out of here, Miss Kyle, else it’ll be trouble for us both! I’m not even supposed to be talkin’ to you!!”

Drumming her fingers along the length of the outer window, Selina sighed erratically. “Come on, Carl!! Don’t tell me you’re scared of Dr. Crane! He’s just a damn bully! Don’t let him get to you!!” Somehow, Selina was positive that Dr. Crane had resorted to methods of cheaply threatening Carl, and she didn’t like it one bit since she personally still considered the man her friend.

Hushing her by slamming an index finger down on his lips, Carl glared at her before snapping mordantly, “This is my damn _job_ that’s on the line here!! Don’t you play with that, Miss Kyle!!”

The caustic, biting words lingered in the air, and Selina leaned away from the window. She didn’t want to admit it aloud, but she felt offended. Placing a hand over her chest, she scathingly cried out, “Do you think I’m _that_ kind of a lowly bitch that I’d just ruin things for you, Carl?!”

How could he?!?

When their eyes met, only vagueness could be found there, especially within Carl’s diogenic depths. Purposefully, he’d closed himself off to her, and he only shook his head in utter disappointment. Moving away, he gripped a mop, and his fingers and hands wove tightly around the handle. Eyes flicking up and down as though confused in terms of what it was he wanted to say or do, Carl took his time before sheepishly whispering lowly, “I’m sorry, Selina; we can’t be friends anymore.”

Like burning acid poured right into her heart and brain, Carl’s trenchant words and stinging tone affected Selina a lot more than she thought it would. Strange, she found she could take a solid punch to the face, a brutal beat down, as well as being in the midst of the thrill of danger just fine…and yet, Carl’s words had cut her deeper than any weapon could. Veins feeling flayed to the nerve, her blood boiled in the pit of her stomach, and her gut lurched forward. She felt light-headed and sick all at once, and then an eerie, unpleasant sense of numbness took over. Feeling as though she weighed over five-hundred pounds suddenly, Selina’s shoulders caved in.

So this is what it felt like to lose a friend…

Not wanting to leave Carl with the impression that his bumptious words had struck her deeply, Selina sniffled, and then turned away from him. Waspishly, she growled, “Well, fine then. If that’s the way it’s going to be, then I’m content with that.”

“Look, Selina,” Carl rasped behind her, resorting to using her first name in order to directly get through to the hot-headed female. “I warned you on your _first_ night here not to go around asking about Joker, didn’t I?” Not even allowing her to answer, he interrupted by throwing out the appropriate response. “I did! And you didn’t listen to me!!” Vocal tone and pitch increasing at the height of his emotions, Carl caught himself before he really lost control.

Peeking over her shoulder to make sure that they didn’t have any ‘spies’ or extra listeners, Selina huffed and placed both her small hands on her shapely waist. “It was Dr. Isley’s idea, Carl,” she added in by way of correcting him and shifting the blame off herself. “I didn’t willingly volunteer to go see the guy.”

Shaking his head in disdain, Carl only pushed out brokenly, “Selina, you need to get your head on straight if you want to last a whole year in this place. I’m tellin’ you, Joker’s a bad case.” Waving his arms about, he carried on, “Of _aaaalll_ the loons in here, I promise you, he’s by far the worst. He’s the most confused, yet rational, and if you’re not careful enough or experienced enough to look out for the warning signs, then there’s no way I can help you.”

Hands slamming down on the counter so hard that it emitted a soft ‘thud’, Carl glared away at Selina, meeting her eyes deeply as he tried getting his point across to her once and for all. Slowly, he sounded out each word as clearly as he could. “Stay. Away. From. Him. That’s all I can tell you to do as someone who genuinely wants the best for you.”

At once, upon hearing those words, Selina couldn’t at all prevent an astringent, corrosive twinge from growing in her chest. Pressing her forehead against the cold glass, she never even blinked as she stared at Carl head on. Acerbically, she snarled, “And why do you care about what happens to me, hmm? You said so yourself: we’re not friends.”

That did it. Her biting, sardonic reply was enough to seal Carl’s mouth tightly shut. He had nothing else to offer, and his head drooped down while he slowly began working on mopping the floors of his office.

Nothing else needed to be said between them.

Selina walked back to her room, vitriol causing her to almost kick at a wall outside her door. Stupid Carl. Stupid Dr. Crane. Stupid rules. None of it made sense anymore. She’d been actually finding things pleasant for a few weeks, and now, things had turned bleak and gloomy. It just wasn’t fair…

Muttering to herself, she grumbled, “And to think that I was going to be so nice and return the damn patient folder to him…”

….

Her heart skipped many beats immediately.

Clamping a hand down over her mouth, she croaked in fear, “ _Fleck’s patient file!!! Oh my god!!_ ” If memory served her right, the last time she’d seen the folder was when she’d been lingering in the hall right outside of Joker’s room…

“SHIT!!!” Kicking and slapping the wall next to her closet, Selina mentally cursed herself over and over for being so clueless and dull. How could she have been so careless and blind?! It was as good as lost, now, and her case was shut! Her days were numbered if she didn’t locate that damn file and return it!!!

Gazing outside her room at a clock in the hall, she noticed that it was just half-past seven. Usually, dinner and ‘socialization’ activities ran until eight-thirty in the evening. That meant she still had time, but she had to hurry. Every second and every minute counted!

Not wanting to squander her time, Selina traveled quickly, making sure her footsteps didn’t echo loudly in the empty stairwells. The elevator had always been ‘locked’ past suppertime, mostly as a means of caution and security. It sucked big time, as it would’ve saved her the extra four minutes of running. Leaping up the steps two at a time, she soon gracefully ran down the narrow path she recalled journeying not even five days ago with Dr. Isley. As she made the trip all alone, Selina found that it was chilling as well as daunting.

Being alone here was fulsome and at the same time, creepy. At night, a lot of the maximum-security patients holed up on the seventh floor of the hospital apparently became… ‘active’. Eyeing the way their shadows twisted and danced beneath the door frames, Selina’s sharp ears caught sounds of patients conversing intently with themselves, bickering with themselves, half-weeping, half-laughing in glee, whispering to entities such as the Devil, and humming eerily. All sorts of bizarre ramblings could be heard, and although it was normal for a mental health facility, at night, it wasn’t at all comforting.

The darkness of the halls brought on heavily by the moonless night peering in through the windows caused Selina to second-guess why she was even here to begin with. A few times, she’d even wanted to turn around and give up on the whole thing, but she feared the consequences. If only the damn ramifications didn’t exist, then she’d be out of here in a jiffy.

Damn.

Eventually, she made it straight to Joker’s door. Never in a million years did she think she’d be here again, but lo and behold, Selina appeared to have no other options. Quickly, she dropped to her knees, fumbling about all over the icy cool hallway floor to feel around for the folder. Could she have dropped it in the middle of all the chaos???

No…it didn’t appear to be the case. Perhaps one of the orderlies or guards had taken it??

…No…that couldn’t have happened! She’d been with them all the entire way back after Dr. Jonathan Crane found her. Nothing had even been on the floor back then at that specific time for that matter, either…this only meant one thing, and it was the very thing Selina didn’t wish to think about for long.

…Joker probably had taken it and hidden it away in his room. Just her luck.

….

But what to do, now? Knock? Whisper? Threaten him?? She needed to get it back, and she was willing to do so, at any cost!!!

….

 _Any_ cost?? No…she wasn’t that desperate…yet…

There was no telling what kind of a mood Joker was in, what sorts of games he wanted to play, and whether he was going to ask her to do something stupid to get the folder back, for that matter. It was a huge risk she’d be taking either way, and Selina had to mull that over for some time. She had to be realistic and weigh the options here. Was she seriously set on getting the folder back so badly that she’d beg and whine for it to be returned?? Or was it not worth it in the first place??

…There was also a chance that Joker didn’t even have it!! Again, this was all a big risk Selina had to take, and there were a lot of unknowns lying about before herself down the road. However, as many ‘unknowns’ that existed, one striking fact of reality overpowered them all. That happened to be the sad fact that if Joker indeed had the patient folder, he could very easily relay to Dr. Crane that Selina-right before her attack-had brought along his folder with herself. It wouldn’t be that far out of the realm of something he’d do, especially considering how she’d slashed his face with her piercing sharp nails…and kicked him down to the floor mercilessly a few times…

Shit…

There was no other option.

Craning her neck up, Selina saw that the desk lamp Joker had propped above a few old, tattered notebooks was on bright and shining. A man’s shadow was clearly seen cast along the wall before the bed, and faint rustling sounds could be heard from the other side of the dark, heavy door. Ipso facto, Joker was of course still in his room.

Worrying her lower lip until it got to the point of hurting her, Selina mentally counted to ‘three’, and then she raised a small, clenched fist and knocked twice extra softly so as to not make large amounts of noise.

….

Heavy silence answered her, and she again knocked once. In the middle of it, her hand trembled so badly, that it drooped and fell down to her side. Wincing at her lack of courage, she whimpered. Before she could clamp a hand over her mouth to shut herself up, she heard someone inhale sharply inside the room.

It was silent again for half a minute, and Selina nearly leapt up in pure fright when beads of her own sweat trickled down along the back of her neck and over the curve of her long spine. It grew so cold the lower it traveled…

So cold…

….

“If you want what I have, you should come in quickly.”


	8. Dangerous Minds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my, this chapter...

Selina was able to distinctly hear her own heart throbbing and thumping wildly in her ears. The empty hallway was so damn quiet, yet loud whenever the patients down in the other locked rooms cried out in nascent anger, ecstasy, or joy at random intervals. The contrasting, terrifying blend of sounds moving back and forth between her ears only added to her growing sense of dread. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be here, period. She knew all the rules and regulations here, and yet she’d broken them...again. Why was that? When had she turned into such a rebellious, dissolute sort, especially when everyone under the sun was warning her against making this move???

It wasn’t like her. Yes, she felt enraged at Carl’s mistreatment, but was she here to spite him? Mock him? She didn’t know, but she knew she was taking an enormous risk by not listening to his instructions and heeding his warnings.

Bottom line, she wasn’t supposed to be here, and she felt extremely agitated now that Joker-Arthur Fleck-whoever the hell he was and whatever the hell title and moniker he went by-had ‘caught’ her. This was a massive blow to her ego. Selina had prided herself quite often for being something of a proficient ‘cat burglar’. Sure, she’d got caught a few times, especially this time...and the time right before being arrested and brought to Arkham State Hospital, but everyone slipped every now and then!! To think of all the times she’d struck in the dark as the ‘cat burglar’ of Gotham City without anyone catching on was something she’d added onto her growing sense of pride. Yes, she had that, but it just didn’t bolster her confidence any if someone like Arthur Fleck could easily anticipate her steps and read her like an open book.

Damn this man entirely to hell.

Fueled by potent rage, Selina pressed the toe tips of her sneakers right up to the bottom of the door. That heavy, solid ‘thud’ which happened to be her feet knocking into the tough mass of the door alerted her to the fact that she’d nearly lost all control and flung her own body at the door.

Closing her eyes tightly, Selina had to remind herself not to get overly emotional and carried away. To do that would be playing right into Arthur Fleck’s hand. She was pretty certain that he wanted such a response from her to begin with.

In the midst of a silent break that persisted long enough to become grueling, Arthur’s odd-yet masculine-voice spoke out to her once more. “Come closer.”

Snidely, Selina couldn’t help but snap, “Someone didn’t teach you any manners?? Where’s your ‘please’?” She truthfully didn’t care one way or another about drawing out a ‘please’ from him; she just wanted to be as rude and petty as possibly towards someone she’d decided she didn’t like.

Arthur’s slightly nasally voice rang out, “We both want something here, so come closer.”

They both wanted something?? That didn’t make a lot of sense from where Selina was standing. Yes, she wanted the patient file folder back, but what could Arthur Fleck possibly want from her??

Quickly, her mind supplied, _‘Revenge, Selina, he wants revenge since you scratched his face!! Get it together!!’_

That was quite plausible, but what did he actually want her to do? Her imagination didn’t help, as it conjured up nasty images she didn’t need or want to see and think of. Everything was spiraling out of her control, and it all made Selina quite dizzy.

Sadly, it also rendered the young woman a bit slow in terms of reflexes. That had been the sole reason as to why she couldn’t have anticipated for Arthur to wordlessly get up. Without even so much as giving the young woman a warning, Arthur threw himself at the door. His face glued itself right against the glass insert of the door, and right away, Selina’s eyes fell into his.

She was transfixed, and as if he’d placed a spell on her, she too pressed herself right up to his door. The moment she had, Selina realized that the glass insert actually had a few tiny holes built into it for the purposes of allowing fresh oxygen to flow into Arthur’s room. It also explained how she’d been able to hear him speaking and moving, no doubt.

And right now, against all her nerves screaming at her to get as far away from him as she should have, Selina wanted nothing more than to listen...

Standing too much in her way, Arthur’s vibrant colored eyes seemed to devour her own. He went on staring deeply at her for nearly two whole minutes, and Selina had to wonder just how it could be that he’d managed it.

Didn’t this man need to blink?!?

…An eerie thought suddenly slammed into her.

_‘Maybe he doesn’t need to blink because he’s so dead to everything around himself…’_

Feeling terrified by that thought alone, Selina tried appearing more ‘intimidating’ from her vantage point. She didn’t think she would be able to achieve that at all, but she sure wanted to give it a shot. If someone as meager as Arthur Fleck could chill her to the bone just with one glance, then surely she could do worse to him…

Her eyes landed on the tiny portion of deep red that flashed beneath a soft, white gauze. Arthur must’ve already noticed where she was looking, for he turned his cheek to press it up to the glass and the holes. “I tried asking them not to bandage it up, but they wouldn’t listen,” came his bizarre, awkward statement before he smiled at her as though she’d given him a wonderful gift. A few of his fingers flicked and tapped against the door, and he beamed even wider at her as he cooed, “I know how to pick the lock on my door…”

Was he boasting??

Selina’s patience was wearing thin, and just to call Arthur’s bluff, she yanked back on the old handle. Surprisingly, Arthur hadn’t been lying to her at all. The door came open with ease, and the older male stepped aside so she had room to gaze inside.

Holding out his hands, he whispered, “Hurry! They’ll see!”

Resisting the urge to scratch him even though she didn’t have any god damn fingernails long enough to do the deed, Selina paused for a few seconds right in the open doorway. Behind herself, she felt the slightly cool breeze of the fans. They spun above, round and round, their long blades gliding and cutting through the air. She’d been sweating, and when the cold air blew past her, it made it so that her white uniform clung nastily to her form. Shivering, she wet her lips and just stared on inside.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary upon inspection from afar. It was just silent, cooler, temperature wise, and a dark night. She wasn’t scared of the dark…was she??

Arthur’s eyes shifted, and he let out a choked giggle that got cut off in the middle of him interrupting himself. “We won’t be alone for long, now.”

He was right; people were definitely coming upstairs. Selina’s sharp hearing alerted her to the sounds of feet dragging along the stairs down the hall. A few masculine voices rang out, next, no doubt guards and orderlies. If she was caught here…no, she didn’t even want to entertain that idea for a second.

…But was she _really_ going to be in a better place taking her chances with Arthur Fleck in his room?!?

Leaving it to fate to decide was…far bolder than she’d have liked. Sure, she could break into rich people’s homes, take whatever jewels and money they had. Sure, she could leap from trees, soar along rooftops in the dark, and perform the most daring, most dangerous gymnastics tricks for the heck of it and to show off to Holly.

But…to be in Arthur Fleck’s room…there was no telling what could happen to her…

 _‘But you fought him once, Selina,’_ her thoughts cleverly comforted her with facts. _‘You can take him, if you have to, but try not to go in armed to the teeth!’_

Swallowing when her throat clogged up and felt as dry as a cat’s litter box, Selina nodded and then duck her head inside the room. Understanding, Arthur moved aside, and as the voices of the guards grew nearer and nearer, Selina dove into the room. Practically hovering, she pushed herself inside, and right upon entry, she was shocked to find how warm the room was in comparison to the hallway.

Arthur quickly shoved his door closed, not allowing it to make much of a sound as he peeked on outside just until the guards walked by. Without him having to say a word to her, Selina dropped down and hid near his desk, making sure she wasn’t in the field of vision or anywhere near where she would be seen. All she had to do was count to ‘five’ before the voices of the guards grew muffled. They’d obviously walked on by without staring into Arthur’s room.

That only solved half her problems, unfortunately. She still needed to figure out a way to get the patient file back in one piece…

Inching away from the desk and floor, Selina brushed herself off while ignoring how Arthur stared on at her. Dark hair slicked back, his eyes seemed far too thrilled when gazing at her from head to toe. He seemed to already be ensorcelled by her appearance, as far as she was able to tell. His eyes gliding along her slender form fluctuated in almost the way a young child’s would when the power of a mythic image first fascinated youthful innocence. If Selina didn’t know any better, she would’ve wagered he was possibly besotted by what he’d seen…in his own mad way, all things considered.

Not wanting to waste time dispensing with formalities and making ‘friends’, Selina held out her hand expectantly. Fingers curled forward and back. “Give me the folder,” she demanded harshly, eyes avoiding Arthur’s for the longest time.

Reaching up to pick at the gauze, the older male slowly peeled off the band aids crudely holding it in place over his skin. Crumpling it all into a tight ball and throwing it into a waist bin near the foot of his bed, he stood back and allowed fresh air to move over the scars Selina had awarded him with. Even as the young blonde gaped at them, she couldn’t help but cringe. The four long fingernail imprints grazing his pale skin looked…brutal. There was no other word to describe the sight. It was just plain brutal through and through.

Not wanting however to dish out pity to someone as execrable as Arthur Fleck, Selina amped up her levels of aggressive pursuit. Standing tall even though they were both the exact same height, she snarled ferociously, “The file; give it to me, and I’ll be on my way.” It was the most clipped way she could communicate, and she hoped he would just listen for _once_. Things didn’t need to escalate, and Selina was willing to do anything at this point so that Arthur Fleck forgot what he’d previously said to her.

Eyes twinkling with sheer insanity, Arthur only touched at the scratch marks gleaming in the lights. Far too much like a young boy, he chuckled in amusement, “You forgot that I asked you for something in return!”

No, she hadn’t forgotten; she just couldn’t care less.

Deciding to be blunt, Selina went down that route in the hopes of shooting down whatever gross, perverse, insane, and otherwise ridiculous task he was going to set on her. “I’m not really in the mood to mess around here, Fleck,” she hissed his name as though it were a dirty swear word, “give me what I asked for, else I’ll—”

“There’s nothing you can do to me,” he provoked by almost saying it in a sing-song tone. Shoulders bunching up, due to how thin he was, Arthur resembled a scrawny teenager that bullies at Selina’s school often chased about, threw rocks at, and tried beating up during recess and after school hours when teachers weren’t around. It truly struck the young woman as to how someone vastly older than herself could appear so young, small, and innocent in terms of mannerisms, general conduct, and physique. Arthur Fleck was truly a specimen she was slowly finding herself increasingly intrigued by…though she loathed to admit it.

Her secret, for now.

Impatience bled all over her face, pooling deeply in the center of her cheeks. She could almost feel potent waves of steam rising out of her ears, off the top of her head, and shooting out of the back of her neck. It suddenly made her hair sticky in clumps, and she couldn’t take much of it anymore. Wincing due to how disgusting and salty she smelled and felt, Selina reached into her back pocket, and she pulled out a dark hair scrunchie.

As Arthur watched her far too intently, she bit out rudely, “The hell are you staring at?” Not bothering to wait around for one of his immature, cryptic replies, she bunched up her hair in both hands, positioned and drew them into the left, and then brushed the top of her head with the palm of her right hand. Scrunchie stretching between her fingers, in less than a minute, she’d tied up her hair in a thick ponytail.

Much better. She felt rejuvenated and refreshed, but that didn’t help her feel that much ‘safer’ when she recalled whose room she was currently in…

In the silence of it all, Selina found she was incapable of tolerating the long, drawn out pauses between the messages Arthur Fleck was meaning to send out. If this was his way of getting to her, it was working. He was doing nothing aside from making her feel quite uncomfortable, and he was pissing her right off.

Eyes set in tiny slits, she growled out in a warning, “If you’re going to keep on playing dumb and deaf, then I promise you, I’ll—”

“But you don’t have your claws anymore,” Arthur sniped out at her, shaking his head once before tilting it down at her hands. “You’ve been…taken care of just like they took care of me when I got here.”

Well. That was something, alright. Not sure what to make of it, Selina only felt repulsed when at least in her mind, Arthur had tried to make some sort of a connection between them given their shared experiences. As far as she was concerned, she was _nothing_ like this man, and she didn’t want to be compared to him, let alone breathing the same oxygen as him. Unfortunately, while she knew she didn’t have the option of suffocating either herself or the man standing not too far away from her, she did however exercise her sharp wit, and barbed tongue. Too much too often, it’d saved her life…as well as landed her in trouble.

Oh well. She could play the odds.

Snorting at him in pure derision, Selina hissed icily, “There’s no connection here between us. I had my fingernails cut because people here seem to think you deserve protection. The most they took from you, however, is what? A joke book? A balloon? A gun? A knife??” Pausing once she heard her own voice growing louder in volume, she had to calm down for a moment before daring to venture forth. If she blew up now, chances were she’d never get that file back. She had to be calm, collected, soothing, gentle, but she couldn’t be a dunce at the same time.

It was time to seek out a balance.

….

But Arthur hadn’t spoken, yet, and this caused her to grow nervous. She was running into the age-old problem of over speaking whenever she was nervous and anxious, and that wasn’t going to end well for her. If he knew already what made her tick, then he would be more likely to use it against her…

Shit!

Drawing her nose up in disgust, she crowed, “Why don’t _you_ say something for a while? Hmm?” Wanting to be clear and not waste anymore time, she expounded, “Just tell me what you want, and so help me god, if it’s something perverted, I’ll—”

“I want to know your name.”

….

She had almost missed it the first time. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been expecting it; the truth was that she hadn’t thought of Arthur Fleck as someone who cared enough about any individual to want to find out their name, let alone anything else about them. This went against everything she’d heard of and read about, and it left her feeling rooted to the spot.

The stymied young woman blinked rapidly, her breath hitching in her throat. Finally, all she could muster was a soft, “E-excuse me??”

Not minding that he had to repeat himself, Arthur beamed at her before reiterating clearly, “Your name. I’d like to know what it is.”

Her instincts screamed and bit at her to lash out as harshly as possible. She wanted to be rude, she wanted to degrade him, mock him, insult him. Selina Kyle wanted nothing more than to be able to conjure up the strength to pick up his desk, and fling it wildly at his head. She didn’t know what to do with Arthur Fleck, and it bothered her. Why did he want to know her name?!? It was _her_ name! It belonged to only her!! It wasn’t his to know or have!! Why was he so concerned about it?!

Nearly buckling down in emotional turmoil and agony at the thought of it all, Selina begged softly, “C-can we p-please talk about something else?!?”

He shook his head rather firmly. “No. You know my name, and I want to know yours!!”

…There was no way on earth to convince him otherwise. He seemed to be the type of person who never let go of an idea or thought once it got stuck in his damn, pathetic excuse for a brain, she could tell.

Great.

Supposing she could lie to him and get away with it, Selina had been about to go along with that, when something prevented her from it. She didn’t know how exactly to describe it, but something menacing, dangerous, and ugly crossed over Arthur’s features once she stared at him directly. It was unexpectedly ugly, and Selina knew she didn’t want to bear witness to it ever again. The experience was terrifying in its own right, and it wasn’t something she could easily go to bed and wake up the next morning forgetting. No…it was a truly ‘evil’ look, if she wanted to label it that way. Everything in her system warned her to pay attention to the ‘red flags’; this wasn’t a man she could lie to and trick, and to try it would only be an exercise in futility.

She’d already wasted plenty of her precious time.

Meanwhile, Arthur proved he had infinite amounts of patience, somehow. Not at all pushing her to say or do anything yet, he stood back and hardly blinked away from her face. Anything she did, any small movement she created, he hungrily ate up and swallowed like a thirsty creature. He seemed starved enough even for a conversation, and he grew giddier and giddier while she stewed in her anger.

_‘To hell with it; you can’t lie to him, Selina. There’s no point in even trying. Just tell him your god damn name.’_

Fine. Why should she hide and be ashamed of herself, anyway? Holly had always told her to wield more confidence, so this had to count for it, right?

Lifting her head high, she crossed her arms about her chest as she proudly announced herself in the warm room. “I’m Selina…Selina Kyle.”

Ever like a little boy, Arthur leapt up to attention, and then half a second later, his right hand shot out for her to take. “I’m Arthur!” he exclaimed in zeal, “it’s nice to meet you, Selina!!”

….

“Err, I wish I could say the same about you,” she began snidely, “but it’s really not the case.” As the insult flew out of her mouth brazenly, Selina tried adding salt to the wound by purposefully moving away from Arthur’s outstretched hand. “Umm, can you please get your hand out of my face now?” Leering at it as though it were a piece of trash burning brightly, she inched away until her back hit the desk.

A mild expression of pain flitted along Arthur’s face. It resembled the face a kid would make if someone stole their ice cream, told them Santa Claus wasn’t real, stole their favorite toy from them, or bullied them viciously. He dropped his hand, took one peek at it, and then let it droop at his side. Selina, mistakenly assuming she’d insulted him perfectly, started grinning from ear to ear.

Sadly, her personal triumph was cut short.

Boldly, Arthur looked up at her, and he flashed his teeth before her. They were a bit stained, but still quite white in spite of everything. “Selina,” he began fondly, eyebrows raised high, “I think you want to be my friend and get to know me better!”

“Bullshit.” The words had slipped out of her without recourse, but they didn’t affect Arthur in the slightest.

Pacing up to her, he cooed, “Don’t say that! I think you like me! I can tell these things!!”

Chin jutting out, Selina rasped, “How the _hell_ do you go around making that up on your own for??!” Just how insane was this monster?! Sure, she’d seen her fair share of cuckoos and psychos in here, but Arthur Fleck was beyond delusional. Wherever he was gaining his information from to draw his conclusions, it was all wrong, and Selina wanted to set him straight…before knocking his lights out, of course.

Leaping back, suddenly, it took Arthur all of three seconds before he lifted the thin mattress of his cot. Fingers fumbling beneath it, he called over his shoulder, “Because you took this!” A second later, he produced the damn off-white patient folder Selina had been looking for all along.

Her heart dropped once she caught the fancy _Arthur Fleck_ written out in cursive writing.

Swallowing thickly, she softly stated, “Give that back to me, Fleck.”

Shaking his head wildly so much that it made his hair fall out of place from the force of it, Arthur protested vehemently, “Not until you tell me why you willingly stole this.”

Wanting to save her skin, Selina lied, “I didn’t steal it!”

“You did!” he argued right back, “you stole it, and you read it for yourself!”

An obstinate Selina rebuked, “No, it’s not the case! It was just something Mr. Carl gave me to read when I was bored!”

…That had been one of the weakest, stupidest lies she could tell, and even Arthur had to pause and glare at her. The look her gave her almost seemed to say: ‘Was that the best you could come up with?’

Infuriated by what his look could’ve meant, Selina wasted no time in taking matters into her own hands. “GIVE ME THAT!!!” While screaming, she leapt at him, flying through air and aiming for the file…unfortunately, there was the matter of Selina having missed Arthur’s shoes sitting neatly beneath the chair before the desk. Selina tripped over the shoes, and she went sailing along. With so much momentum pushing her through, she crashed right on top of Arthur, who at the very last minute had tried preventing her fall.

Both adults knocked into each other, and as Selina’s arms flailed about, she landed roughly on Arthur’s bony hips. They rolled on the floor, and eventually, Selina lay flatly on top of his body, their laps too much too close for comfort. The embarrassment and throbbing in her head got to her, and she struggled to get off him. Crab walking backwards as though her life depended on it, Selina had barely gotten a few inches away from Arthur, when he rolled back up and pinned his weight down on his knees.

Staring at her with wide eyes the size of small plates, he tried wheezing something out to her, when his face turned beet red. At first, Selina thought she’d hurt him when they crashed into each other, but then, he inhaled sharply, and his shoulders trembled.

Was he dying? Was he having a heart attack??? She hoped so…

Watching him carefully, Selina frowned in confusion once she didn’t hear him gasping for air, nor did she see him double over.

Without even thinking about it, she blurted out, “Are you okay?”

No sooner had she asked this, when Arthur threw his head back, and he laughed as loudly as a demon from hell. Clutching at his throat, a pained expression grew on his face, and he laughed while shaking his head at her. In between his boisterous laughter that rang high into the ceiling and bounced off the walls, he sputtered and coughed. Now, Selina truly believed he was choking.

Arthur Fleck was likely going to die, and since she was trapped in his room, she would be found next to his body, and everyone was going to wrongly accuse her of murdering the man.

Fearful for her life and wellbeing, Selina drew the space between her body and Arthur’s close, and she gently rubbed and pet him on the back. “Shh!! Shh!” she hissed and hushed, “it’ll be okay!! Just breathe!! Breathe through your damn nose!!”

Rubbing his back in smooth circles, Arthur’s insane laughter only rose, but in the throes of it all, he stared up at Selina and forced a smile onto his face. Through the hot tears that leaked from the corners of his eyes, his smile eventually went from forced and pained, to genuine and sincere. The longer she rubbed his back so gently and soothingly, the softer he smiled at her. His laughter subsided eventually, and he gulped in mouthfuls of air while beating and pressing down on his neck and chest.

Nodding, Selina herself calmed down. “Yes, just breathe,” she said more to herself than to Arthur, “come on, you got this…it’s okay…it’s okay now…”

….

Why in the world was she comforting a murderer, again??? Had she lost her damn mind???

Once realizing just where she was, whom she was knelt beside, and whose shoulders she’d been rubbing, Selina let out a yelp before snatching her hand away as though Arthur’s body had been engulfed in flames and burnt her limb. Cradling it to her chest, she sneered at him moodily.

Giggling for a few seconds in the wake of it all, Arthur finally sat up straight, and he wiped his forehead free of any sweat gathered there from exerting himself through his strained laughter. All too sweetly, he sighed out, “Sorry…I…I have a c-condition.”

Shaking her head at him in disgust, Selina whispered, “Yeah, I’ll say!”

Where someone else would’ve had no issues deciphering her words as blatant sarcasm, Arthur Fleck didn’t appear to understand that. It all flew over his head, and he hadn’t grasped at her snide remark. Instead, he appeared to be on cloud nine, and all he could do was smile at her while holding onto his scratched left cheek.

“Th-that’s the first t-time someone’s been there for me when my condition acted up…” Eyes glazed over with an odd emotion Selina didn’t at all wish to interpret right now, Arthur murmured under his breath, “Thank you, Selina…you’re a special gal.”

She didn’t want to hear it anymore. Getting up quickly, she ignored how the room spun. “Look, you got what you wanted! I told you my name, and I’m going to take the file away, now!” Unsure as to why she was even speaking her thoughts and plans out loud, Selina dashed ahead and swiped the folder off the cold floor. She should’ve done this a long time ago.

Fighting back the blush and heat from her face, she approached the door. Warily, she opened it ajar, and as she stuck her head out, she did a quick ‘survey’ of her immediate surroundings. The coast appeared to be all clear, and without any other hesitation, Selina slipped out through the tiny crack in the door.

The dull ‘thud’ that was the sound of it swinging completely shut behind her scared her slightly, and she cursed herself for practically being a cat that was scared of its own shadow. Yes, there were scarier things to fear in the dark halls of Arkham State Hospital, and Arthur Fleck was on top of Selina’s list…for now.


	9. Millennium

The sight of her own fingernail scratch marks upon his ghostly cheek haunted Selina in her nightmares for two full nights after she’d fled from Arthur’s room. Since their initial meeting, Selina hardly ventured out of her room, nor did she really eat much. Her friends grew quite concerned about her, and one bright Wednesday afternoon, Sharlet and twins brought a few sandwiches up for Selina.

Permitting them to stay in her room for a while, though she rejected the meal, Selina was grateful for the company. She loved knowing she had friends in this dreary, dank place, and Selina soon forgot about Arthur Fleck. Her spirits picked up and soared, but while her appetite disappeared, she lost herself in garrulous, obstreperous conversation with her friends. Things seemed to be going quite well and copacetic, with Harry and Larry bickering over who won the last round of ‘Go Fish’, while Sharlet painted her fingernails and toenails bright orange.

Later, the twins excused themselves to go get dessert and other assortments of snacks. Sharlet finished with her nails and took to silently reading until the orderlies were through with their rounds and checks. When Sharlet and Selina were left alone, the other woman sat perched next to Selina on her bed.

Rubbing her shoulders with her own, Sharlet leaned into Selina, and carefully whispered in her ear, “Word on the street is that you spoke with Joker.”

And right there and then in that flash of a second, Selina knew she was ‘caught’. Though not one to lie to a friend, it troubled her greatly that Sharlet had somehow known of her little ‘visit’. Did news travel quickly like wildfire, here? Who was watching?? To the best of her knowledge, she was beyond certain that she’d covered her tracks well enough! No one had seen her leave, no one had seen her go up to the seventh level of the hospital, and no one had been in the halls with her!! How on earth had Sharlet gained this information??

Clearly noticing her discomfort portrayed vehemently in her silence, Sharlet whispered huskily, “A word to the wise; the walls have eyes and ears here.”

Drawing herself forward until she was flush against the other female, Selina made sure no one was about in the halls before hissing a sibilant hiss. “I wasn’t there to chat it up with him!” She had no idea why she was defending herself as though put on trial, but she gushed strongly in her own defense, “I was just trying to get back the patient file!”

Thin, pale eyebrows shooting up, Sharlet repeated, “Patient file?? Whose?? Yours?”

Wincing, Selina answered, “Err, no…I just…m-may have t-taken Fleck’s patient file?”

She knew Sharlet was going to dish out a huge lecture as soon as she’d come clean with this, and she hadn’t been incorrect in that assumption. The older woman rolled her eyes, facepalmed, and then shook her head. Picking at a loose thread in her white pants, Sharlet heaved out in exhaustion, “Look, Selina, it’s okay if you’re having doubts and second thoughts about Arthur Fleck.”

“I’m not!” Selina interrupted a tad too loudly, covering her mouth for a moment before she mentally counted to ‘three’ and calmed herself down. Now was _not_ the time at all to get excited, not unless she wanted to accrue a large audience.

Thankfully, however, not many patients and orderlies seemed to be on this level at this hour of the day. The halls hummed and buzzed due to the lights and mild air conditioning. Since the windows could never be left open, the air conditioning was provided mostly by expensive, large fans. A few times, according to the twins, a few of the former drug addicts snuck down to the lower levels of the hospital, snatched up the air conditioners themselves, took them apart, and had tried selling the bits and pieces for drug money, so there wasn’t much of a need for air conditioning.

And that was why nothing nice remained in Arkham State Hospital.

But Selina wasn’t interested in holding back due to fear of someone listening. Not wanting to lose the opportunity to speak with Sharlet, she only got up from her bed enough to kick her door shut. Returning to Sharlet’s side, she brokenly wept out, “I…I took it because I was just curious about him!” Noticing how Sharlet frowned at her like her mother often had whenever she’d gotten into trouble, Selina supplied carefully, “You t-told me to try and do some of my own research!! Was what I did so wrong?!”

Turning to face her completely, Sharlet’s thin hands jutted forth and gripped Selina by the shoulders. Shaking her firmly twice, Sharlet gaped at her before wheezing, “Yes!! God damn it, woman!! _Yes!!_ I _never_ encouraged you to steal Joker’s file and land yourself in trouble, Selina!!”

“I’m not in trouble,” Selina argued, pushing Sharlet’s hands off her person. “I won’t be unless I’m caught, and I promise you that I’m not that damn stupid, alright?”

That hadn’t convinced the other woman in the slightest. Frowning deeper and deeper, while still facing Selina directly, Sharlet chided her harshly. “That’s _not_ the way you should be looking at it, Selina,” came her weak groan while she massaged her temples and forehead in slow, small circles.

Glaring up at her vociferous younger friend when she’d finished soothing out the minor throbbing in the way of a growing headache she had, she concluded, “Digging around is the fastest way to getting yourself caught, for one, and two, it’s going to send out the wrong message to Joker, you know.”

Selina still didn’t understand how it came to be that Sharlet even learned of her conversation and meeting with Arthur Fleck to begin with. It was on the top of her list of ‘annoyances’, and she wanted an answer to her burning question before moving on to other issues that grieved and peeved her. If she knew and learned how Sharlet knew of her meeting Arthur Fleck, it would open her world better as to how things worked around here. Who was listening? How often were they listening? And what were the next steps she could take in order to protect her information better?

…More importantly, did anyone else know??

Cutting right to the chase, Selina asked softly, “How did you know I spoke with him, Sharlet?”

Shaking her head in dismay, Sharlet tugged more at the loose thread in her pants, yanking it completely out in one go. Fascinated by it for some reason Selina didn’t care to understand and grasp, Sharlet then tugged the thread between her thumb, index finger, and middle finger on both hands. Stretching it as far and as much as it would go, it hung between her hands straight as an arrow.

Eyes never leaving the string, Sharlet commented with an air of mystery to her tone, “Selina, you weren’t at supper, and when I came up to your room to check on you, you weren’t here either.”

Nodding, Selina had been thinking of supplying a lousy response in the way of a lie, when Sharlet cut in. “I also checked the bathrooms, and I waited around for you until bedtime. When I peeked out through the bars in my door, I never saw you.”

Still, that didn’t suggest anything in the way of Selina conversing with or spending her time around Arthur Fleck, but she sat back in silence until Sharlet had completed her thoughts.

Raising a brow almost playfully, Sharlet concluded, “It made sense to me. Call me insane, call me an odd duck, but I’m rational!” Stretching out the string, she sneered at it, and then lowered it away from her eyes. “You were going around asking an awful lot about Joker, so it was easy for me to get that you were likely talking to him.”

Selina knew she had nothing else left to say in the way of an argument. Yes, she technically had spoken with Arthur Fleck, but what more did Sharlet seem to know? Did she know about Dr. Pamela Isley suggesting it in the first place?? Did she know that Selina had actually been inside Arthur’s room??

Worried about the entire ordeal, Selina hung back on her words, but there wasn’t any room left for her to argue or deny what she’d done. It would be quite a foolish move on her part, and she didn’t want Sharlet to stop speaking with her and trusting her. In a place such as this, she needed all the friends and help she could get.

But where some individuals were concerned, Selina couldn’t say she trusted _everyone_ she’d met so far, especially a particular red headed woman obsessed with flowers and vegetation. Frowning while thinking about the woman in question, Selina mumbled, “It was mostly Dr. Isley’s idea to take me up to his room to begin with; I never knew where he was, personally.”

At the sound of the estranged woman’s name, Sharlet groaned petulantly. “Oh, no, no, no, Selina!!” Placing her hands on her lap, she reached forth with her ring finger, and as she stretched the string out toughly, it all snapped and broke with the flick of her ring finger.

“Selina,” she hissed as she threw the two halves of the string to the floor, “you need to watch what you say around Dr. Isley! I’m serious! She may make you believe she’s nice and a good friend, but trust me, she’s not!!”

Shuddering to think of it, Selina commented softly, “Yeah, I figured that one out on my own, Sharlet.”

“I mean it,” the other woman advised, eyes flashing dangerously and aggressively. “Her words are toxic, and she is completely poisonous as a person! Just don’t trust her, for your own sanity!”

Rolling her eyes and trying to play it off when inside, she was shaking with fear, Selina bravely orated, “I’m okay, Sharlet. Really, I’m not that dumb to tell Dr. Isley _everything_.”

“But you _did_ ask her about Joker!” Sharlet pointed out snidely, “You talked enough! Did she actually take you inside his room?”

Turning slightly pale, Selina began weakly, “Err, I mean—”

Shaking her again, Sharlet demanded strongly, “Selina! I’m serious, here!! Did you or did you not go into Joker’s room?!?”

Eyeing the wildness and raw abandon evident in her friend’s eyes, for once in a long, long time, Selina was frightened. While a twinge of relief panged through her system at the fact that Sharlet really had no clue either way as to whether or not she’d been inside Arthur Fleck’s room, she couldn’t specifically celebrate in earnest happiness. This ‘unknown’ mystery was a ‘plus’, but on the other hand, Selina came face to face with a solid, massive dilemma. It was a dilemma she wasn’t prepared to tackle, but one she knew she had to before Sharlet grew too suspicious.

For once in her life, Selina knew she had to lie to a friend. It would be the only way to save her own skin, but to also not have Sharlet worrying to death over her. Selina didn’t need that. She’d never intended to have anyone worry over her, and she never wished for anyone she considered a close friend to be trapped in this position. She knew very well that Sharlet was behaving more like a mother or an older sister to her, lately, and as much as Selina loved being on the receiving end of such maternal-like kindness, at times, it was too much. Sharlet was loving, empathetic, warm, and kind, but far too often, she’d smothered Selina in that love. Desiring her freedom, personal space, and the right to her own thoughts and decisions, Selina weighed her options drastically.

Sadly, as much as she wanted nothing more than to be upfront and honest with Sharlet, she’d be losing far too much. This was a journey Selina had started on her own, and she was going to finish it on her own. There was no way on earth she’d be using her friends along the way. Even if she got hurt, as long as it would ensure their health and safety, she was willing to suffer that ordeal many, many times over.

It was all she could do as she put on a courageous, friendly smile and took Sharlet’s hands in her own. Fingers intertwining, she rejoiced internally when she felt Sharlet massaging her fingers and the back of her knuckles. It seriously felt so endearing, so motherly…

Crafting her smile out to be wider and gentler, Selina leaned her head against Sharlet’s before answering convincingly, “No, Sharlet. Of course not. I just stood out in the hall, and then there was an emergency call for Dr. Isley, as you heard…” Not entirely a lie, she felt a little better for starting it out on that note.

“After, I closed the door on Fleck quickly as I could while Dr. Isley attended to the greenhouses, but Fleck did try to speak with me, yes. You’re right.”

Hoping this would suffice, Selina also added in cleverly, “I’m sorry! I won’t let it happen again!”

Sighing while drawing her friend into a small hug, Sharlet commented, “Good! It better not, or else I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, Selina Kyle.”

Confusion hit Selina in the chest, and as she drew out of Sharlet’s embrace, she giggled for a moment. When Sharlet threw her an odd look, Selina prodded, “I thought you guys liked Arthur Fleck in this joint?”

Humming, Sharlet sighed, “We do, yes. That’s not changed.”

“Then why were you so upset when I told you I spoke with him?”

It was a rather interesting, good question, now that Selina thought of it, and she really wanted a clear-cut answer. If ‘Joker’ was as popular as she’d been led to believe all this time, then what was with the increasing amounts of fear she’d seen Sharlet display??? Something had to have been wrong…

Waving her off while blowing a raspberry with her tongue childishly, Sharlet shook her head. It was a rather primitive form of communication, to say the least, but it added to Sharlet’s quirky mannerisms and idiosyncrasies a lot more. Selina didn’t mind it at all.

Drawing up her shoulders in a small shrug of sorts, Sharlet rasped weakly, “Selina, I just meant that you may be too young to talk to him, that’s all. And remember, not everything or everyone that’s good for society is good for you.”

The words bounced and rolled off Selina’s head and ears. Purposefully shutting her mind off to their raw implications, she gave Sharlet an incredulous look before pushing her to the side playfully. “Are you calling me immature, Sharlet?” She laughed it all off while forgetting the small warning her friend had given her.

Laughing and giggling along with her, Sharlet soon relaxed and shoved Selina back. “Honey, you’re a damn _kitten_ in comparison to me!!! Don’t you start!!”

Back and forth the women toyed with each other and shoved each other about. Their jokes and laughter rang out high in the air, and just for a little while at least, Selina completely forgot about Arthur Fleck, the patient file, what she was going to do with it, and the strange, enigmatic Dr. Crane.

All her issues and problems weren’t going to leave that easily, she knew. Rather than worrying about them for now, she decided to take a breath of fresh air and just act like an innocent child again. She wanted to laugh at the world.

Her problems would always be waiting for her when she was done being a child without sorrow haunting her, of course.

(***’’***”)

It felt great when she didn’t have to think about Arthur Fleck, but like all things in Selina Kyle’s life, that notion of feeling ‘great’, and that sense of happiness was so short-lived. Though she’d gone about her usual routine in the facility, cleaning her room, doing her own laundry, and trying to steer clear of Dr. Pamela Isley, ‘trouble’ had come looking for Selina in no time at all.

She’d barely sat down to eat supper one late Wednesday evening, when a huge orderly tapped on her shoulder. Automatically assuming she was in some hot water, Selina bit out, “I’ve not done anything!! The hell do you want from me???”

Glaring a deadly glare at her that froze her in place, the orderly only pointed back over his shoulder. Following his finger, Selina nearly collapsed in fear and shock when she found Dr. Jonathan Crane leaning against one of the tables supporting and bearing fresh fruits. He looked far too comfortable where he stood, and when he caught her looking his way, he waved at her in the most bizarre fashion. It was so damn bizarre that it enabled Sharlet, Larry, and Harry to cock their heads and eyebrows at him, and then at Selina, clearly anticipating her response.

Ignoring their curious eyes on herself, Selina pushed her food plate aside. Larry hungrily eyed her chicken breast, hardly touched at all.

“May I—”

Selina nodded quickly. “It’s fine; it’s all yours, Larry.” She shoved the plate before her friend, who gladly accepted it and scarfed the food down. Behind her, the orderly pulled out her chair, even though Selina was still carefully seated on it, somewhat.

Scowling at him madly, Selina clenched her fists tightly at her side, and she called out at Sharlet, “Don’t wait up for me.”

Before her friend could say anything, the possessive grip of the orderly’s hands around her elbows yanking and tugging her out of her chair was enough to send Selina reeling. This man was far too strong, and much like a damn bulldozer, he pushed and shoved her past the winding, narrow rows of tables and chairs. The other dining patients hardly noticed it much, though a few of them paled when they glanced up and caught the odd smirk Dr. Jonathan Crane was offering Selina.

The light bounced off his clean glasses’ lenses, giving him almost a ghostly aura. He folded his long arms over his chest, and when Selina had finally approached him close enough to his liking, he nodded at the orderly to move aside.

Reaching behind himself towards one of the large fruit bowls, Dr. Crane plucked a juicy, shiny red apple from the top of the bunch, and he flipped it high in the air. Catching it deftly after it spun around a few times up above his head, he then bit into it while watching Selina closely. The looks he offered her were nothing short of a potentate individual who’d already adjudged her.

Shuddering, she forced herself to remain calm and quiet. It didn’t matter how damn creepy the weird man was acting; she knew he wanted something, and she also knew that she could’ve been in trouble. There indeed existed the possibility that Arthur Fleck had ratted her out. He could’ve had his reasons, Selina supposed, but more importantly, the headstrong young woman decided that if he’d been the cause of Dr. Crane calling her out during supper, it wouldn’t hurt for her to visit him…this time, with her fists.

Delightful.

While her stomach flip-flopped and twisted about in knots, she watched and waited until Dr. Crane took another bite from his apple. Pulling out a white cloth from the left lapel pocket of his overcoat, his grin turned far too predatory for her liking. Dabbing at his lips with it almost too delicately, his effeminate motions were rather vexing in Selina’s opinion. As difficult as he was being, she just wished he could come right out with it and get to his point without resorting to such silly intimidation tactics…

Tossing her the apple he’d twice bitten into, Dr. Crane watched in heavy amounts of fascination and amusement while an irked Selina Kyle swiftly caught the apple with her left hand only.

Nodding at her, he murmured, “Impressive reflexes you have there for a hand that’s not your dominant one, Miss Kyle.”

Glaring away at the bite marks in the apple, Selina felt sick to her stomach. “What do you want?” she snapped out rudely, already hitting her quota and max for levels of frustration as far as dealing with Dr. Crane was concerned. How much more did he want for her to tolerate, anyway?? She was human, for God’s sake!!

Beckoning her over to follow him with a hand, Dr. Crane walked on ahead. Selina hung her head and submissively fell in line, knowing she resembled an obedient dog more than a person. It struck her deeply that her life had come to this, but she had very few options when all around the halls paced guards and orderlies.

Yes, running was plain stupid…

While their feet tapped along the clean, shiny floors, Dr. Crane led her down to the second level of the hospital, no doubt where his office was located. She hadn’t been incorrect in the slightest when their little journey came to an abrupt end. Dr. Crane paused before a dark brown oak door, and he unlocked it easily while turning on the lights as soon as he stepped inside.

“In my office,” he called out uselessly, seeing as she’d already caught a plaque on the damn door that read out in plain English: _‘Dr. Crane’s Office’._

The office was tidy and did not at all resemble any other part of the hospital. It was quite clean, and a fresh, minty scent billowed about in the air. A dark, metallic fan sat on top of the desk, though turned off. A few magazines and books on psychology stood neatly on a large, dark shelf to the left of the mahogany desk in the center of the room. A small water cooler and fountain perched near the door, and the floor held an expensive, spotless Persian carpet draped about. The windows of the office all had dark blinds drawn down over them, and ruby red curtains and drapes were pulled to the side almost perfectly. Not a single wrinkle or crease could be found within them. They matched Dr. Crane’s perfectly ironed suit, and he sat himself down in a dark leather chair while extending a hand out at two chairs perfectly aligned side by side in front of his desk.

She knew the drill. Wordlessly, Selina plopped herself down on the first chair, and Dr. Crane sat back with a hand draped beneath his chin. An old grandfather clock in the right-hand corner of the room ticked louder and louder by the minute, further adding on to Selina’s growing, mounting sense of dread.

What was all this about??!

When he’d taken more than his own ‘eyeful’ of her struggle, Dr. Crane folded his hands together on the surface of his desk. “Do you have any idea as to why I’ve brought you to my office this evening, Miss Kyle?” His question didn’t need to be asked, but Selina already pegged Dr. Jonathan Crane as something of a bully and a sadistic freak. He wasn’t going to spare her the pain of telling her right away. He wanted to turn this into some stupid guessing game, leaving her squirming in her chair in pain and anguish until he was thoroughly satisfied.

Bastard!

Gritting her teeth together, Selina icily threw out, “Can’t say I have any lists hanging around with me at the moment, but if it’s nothing serious, I’d like to get back to my supper, now.” Right on cue, her stomach growled in the silent office.

If he was going to punish her for speaking with Arthur Fleck and taking his patient file, he should’ve just done so without the unnecessary airs and graces. She hadn’t the stomach nor patience for it at all.

Holding out a hand, Dr. Crane droned without emotion, “You’ll get to eat sooner than you know, Miss Kyle.”

Due to the way he’d stated this in such a menacing way, Selina peered over her shoulder at the open door.

Noticing her silent line of inquiry, Dr. Crane orated, “Oh, don’t worry, this won’t take too long, so I didn’t close the door.”

That sounded promising, yet it didn’t, at the same time. The statement itself could mean their ‘chat’ would end swiftly with a nice punishment coming her way, or that he was willing to just verbally berate her for conversing with Arthur Fleck...and stealing his patient file...

Stuck either way she looked at it, Selina repressed her impatience for as long and as much as she could. It wouldn’t do her well to show a reaction either way. Dr. Jonathan Crane knew how to play this damn game, and he was a near expert at it. Face impassive, expression indecipherable, he was ahead of her and had broken his own rules at the same time, it seemed. He could’ve been entertaining the idea of strangling her, and she’d never come to know it because of how cold and detached he was. Why should she be the one to freak out, then? Why play into his hand??

Never breaking eye contact, non-verbally, she informed him she was ready and waiting for him to go on.

It was an opportunity he gladly took with pride. Craning his neck up at her, he took on the appearance of a bird of prey that had already located its next meal. Now, he only needed to swoop in and steal the opportunity for himself.

Not wasting anymore time, Dr. Crane blurted in a thoroughly composed manner, “Tonight’s your lucky night, Miss Kyle!!” Smiling an ecstatic, toothy smile, he clapped and crowed, “It appears that since you’re quite close with Mr. Arthur Fleck, he’s invited you personally to have supper with him in his room tonight!!”

Unsure of whether she’d heard him correctly, Selina’s brows shot up, and then fell back down. She was lost in her initial state of bewilderment, that her whole body went limp. All her bones turned to jelly, and she felt herself hanging off her chair and floating into space.

“I’m...w-what?” As unintelligent as it sounded to say, it was all she could offer. Feeling puzzled didn’t even cover half of it.

Not really all that troubled or moved by her reaction, Dr. Crane drawled, “I don’t really care either way if you’re speaking to him...” Adjusting his glasses so they sat properly on the bridge of his nose, he grunted, “He could be lying, or maybe what he says is the truth. Either way, this is really, really damn good, Miss Kyle.”

She couldn’t at all fathom how and why this could be in any way shape or form ‘good’. Not at all. Not by any stretch of the imagination, even. Perhaps Dr. Crane had seriously lost it after all this time spent in Arkham State Hospital.

Frantically, her eyes darted around the room, looking at and taking in everything and nothing simultaneously. Her brain and nerves felt like complete mush, and she could hardly even see straight while panicking.

Somehow, after much awkwardness displayed, she choked pathetically, “I d-don’t follow you...”

Leaning ahead on his desk, a rather sadistic gleam started off in the dark centers of Dr. Crane’s soulless eyes. Looking as though Christmas had come all too early for him, Dr. Crane sighed ardently. Freely, the words then escaped him like air flowing freely out of a balloon.

“Arthur Fleck hasn’t said much to his therapists, Miss Kyle. Actually, come to think of it,” he snorted, “he hasn’t said much to _anyone_. To this very day, he remains but an enigma to us all...”

Drumming his skinny fingers along the smooth surface of his desk, he expounded, “I’m frankly interested in hearing what he has to say now that he’s finally busted out in song, if you will.”

Now, the picture was quite clear before her. She caught on far ahead of time without him heaving to elaborate. Gesturing at herself openly, she said, “You’re going to be watching and listening...”

“Yes...” Zeroing in on her, Dr. Crane stood quickly from his seat. Long legs covering the distance from his side to hers, he leaned over her with full intentions of being persuasive and domineering.

“I’m mostly interested in why Mr. Fleck’s interested in _you_.” Poking at her with one of his twig-like fingers, he added, “Go have supper with him, and I swear to you now, I’ll do whatever I can to get you out of here _many_ months in advance, Miss Kyle.”

Selina’s eyes blew open wider than ever. Heart racing against her rib cage, she felt her mouth and throat turning dry as she mulled his words over. A promise?? He was making her a promise?? This was maybe too good to be true indeed, but Selina was willing to grab the opportunity. It was all she had left in such a despicable place she wanted to leave since the moment she stepped in through its doors.

There was a chance however that this was all still some stupid dream, but when she lightly pinched herself and didn’t wake up, she knew that hadn’t been true. This was very much real and happening to her!

Spinning about, Dr. Crane reached into the top drawer of his desk slyly. After fumbling about and pushing things within it around for a few moments, he pulled something out of it and slowly held it right up to Selina’s bright eyes. Dangling the object as if dangling a worm on a sharp hook, he let out a faint chuckle. Like a pendulum, the item dangled and swayed back and forth in the cool air.

“What do you say then, Miss Kyle? Hmm? Do you accept my offer?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Selina, let me tell you why Dr. Crane and his 'plan' are bad, bad news...


	10. In the Circle

Gingerly, Selina fingered and prodded the small tape recorder Dr. Crane helped conceal in her back pocket. The object pressed right up against her heated skin in a grim, but constant reminder as to what she’d agreed to. It was the symbol of her signing a deleterious contract. The cold contrast of plastic against feverish flesh sent shivers running up and down her spine, though not as much as her promise to the bizarre psychiatrist she’d ‘sealed’ as of fifteen minutes ago.

Nearly wanting to slap herself silly, Selina groaned. She’d accepted Dr. Jonathan Crane’s offer; she’d do _anything_ to get the hell away from Arkham State Hospital. He knew that well enough, and he’d used her sheer desperation fully to his own damn benefit.

How like the opportunist he was to take advantage of her acrimonious plight...oh well. There was no sobbing over split milk, as they said. All she had to do was ensure her job was done and executed as stealthily and as professionally as possible.

Hitting the tiny red ‘record’ button just as she approached the nabalitic guard who stood posted by Arthur’s room, she double-checked that her recorder sat deeply in the back pocket of her pants. It had, and she clung to the long, baggy sweater she’d been ‘gifted’ by Dr. Crane...not out of generosity, though. Purposefully, the clever psychiatrist blasted the fans and coolers, making it perfectly reasonable that a slender girl like Selina needed the use of a cream-colored sweater to stay warm. Well, that wasn’t completely a lie; she _was_ cold. However, the length of the sweater also came down to cover the swell of her bottom, concealing and hiding the recording device as it poked up against the fabric of her pants.

It was all for the sake of the cacophonous ‘game’, and whether she liked it or not, she was already playing it.

Waiting for the large guard to unlock the heavy door, Selina bit down on her tongue in heavy anticipation. Strangely, she had no clue why she wasn’t able to wrench her mouth open and inform the man to the fact that Arthur Fleck had openly confessed to her that he knew how to pick the lock of the door.

...Was she defending and protecting this monster??

Unfortunately, she didn’t have much time in mulling it over. The door squeaked open, and the muscular guard nodded at her to get going.

_‘On with the show.’_

Shifting inside, Selina’s old sneakers created far too much of a noise in the way of shuffling that could’ve given off the impression that she was quite nervous. As much as she despised thinking of it, she knew she was in fact highly nervous. A few times, already, Arthur Fleck had blurted out some embarrassing things to her. Sure, it helped with immediate privacy when the guard walked away from the door and left them alone, but she still felt grievous by the fact that this was recording for Dr. Crane’s inquisitive ears...

Praying that Arthur wouldn’t say anything disgusting or debasing, Selina only stood and looked around the room in silence.

Much hadn’t changed since she’d last been here, she supposed. The white walls were still covered in childish drawings that lightly fluttered like the wings of a moth in the breeze. It reeked of cigarette smoke in the room in spite of the bed being all made up and the sheets extra clean. Arthur’s long desk was still quite cluttered, and Selina even espied a red handkerchief draped over the desk lamp. The glow and shades of light it created were dim and odd to her eyes, but she wasn’t that deeply disturbed or worried about it.

Arthur’s pornographic calendar still hung from a nail in the wall, and Selina glanced away from it in putrid disgust.

When she’d finished surveying the room and its objects, she found Arthur to be seated close to the window in the room. A small plastic table fit for a damn child stood between a yellow, plastic chair clearly meant for Arthur, and across from that one on the other end of the stupid table happened to be a bright pink plastic chair.

Arthur immediately ran towards the pink chair, pulling it out and standing tall and proudly behind it. He was offering her the seat...

Grumpily, Selina thought to herself, _‘Chivalry’s not dead...unfortunately.’_

While she’d tried brushing aside and ignoring the blatantly obvious signs, she knew she’d lost in that battle much too quickly. Arthur’s behavior and mannerisms were one thing, but how he’d dressed and fashioned his outer appearance was another issue altogether.

For one, Selina noticed that he’d slicked his hair back far too neatly. After inhaling sharply and deeply only once, her nose alerted her to the fact that he’d recently showered. Arthur Fleck smelled pleasantly of soap, men’s spicy shampoo, and he’d clearly splashed cologne onto himself. It reeked of musky old pine and lavender, if she could guess properly. He’d shaved freshly, skin smooth and soft, even around her scratch marks.

When her eyes swept over the elongated wounds, she found that already, scabs were forming, indicating that the wounds had truly started to heal.

On the stupid plaything she really didn’t want to acknowledge as a ‘table’ sat two silver plates, utensils, and serviettes folded beautifully into origami swans. They ‘drifted’ next to the plates, which held steaming, hot piles of wonderful food. But this wasn’t _anything_ like the meals the rest of the patients were fed regularly.

This was extravagant by a long shot.

Roasted chicken breast that had been divided in one lean slice for her, and one for him sat steaming next to lively green snow peas, fresh beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and two stems of asparagus. To top it all off in a ‘graceful’ way, a bowl of cranberry sauce sat between their plates, and a tiny salad dish had been perched by Selina’s serving. It consisted of beans, carrot slices, mushrooms, onion bits, and a few bright green lettuce leaves. They’d been recently washed; waterdrops could still be found on them...

...He’d seriously gone through all this trouble...for what?? To impress her?!? It wasn’t going to work as far as she was concerned.

Zipping along with the mantra repeatedly spinning around her head that this would all be over soon, Selina marched over to the pink chair. It annoyed her, and then some. What an ugly color...

Arthur noticed quickly how she gazed at the chair in disgust. Giggling shyly, he announced randomly, “The color isn’t nice, right?”

Huffing, she answered impatiently, “I _hate_ pink.”

“You can have my chair if you like!” Already volunteering as well as making the final decision for her, Arthur swapped their seats effortlessly. Dropping the abhorrent yellow chair down where the pink one previously had been, he bellowed nasally, “This is all they had, but please sit in my chair!!”

Did she have much of a choice?

….

No. Time to be sensible and reasonable about it. She was already deeply involved in this, and to fight back would be a huge mistake on her part. There was no telling how Arthur would lash out and take her ‘betrayal’, and to make matters worse, she knew she had to worry about Dr. Jonathan Crane if she slipped up and didn’t deliver well on her end of the bargain. There was far too much at stake here for her to give up on.

Forcing herself to sit down, Selina waited at least until Arthur sat on his chair as well before she stared at her food. She pieced together that from the looks of it, Arthur was on the receiving end of ‘special treatment’ here in the hospital. That was quite evident judging by the plates and quality in food.

But why? What made him so damn special?!?!? He was nothing but a creepy weirdo!! Why was he deserving of such nice things?

Not at all understanding the logic behind it, Selina shifted before picking up her plastic fork. Grabbing her salad bowl, she’d made to stab away at some carrots and lettuce, when she heard a resolute ‘click’. Peeking up curiously across the table, she discovered that Arthur had pulled out a bright red and green colored lighter, and he lit a cigarette currently held between his middle and index fingers.

And just whose bright idea had it been to permit Arthur god damn Fleck to have a working lighter and a flaming cigarette in the first place?? Weren’t the staff members concerned that he could possibly burn down the infernal place???

Whatever. If she pondered it long enough, it was sure to cause a headache she didn’t need right now. If he even dared to do such a silly thing, she vowed to somehow cut his damn hand off using only her plastic utensils. She’d make it a possibility, so help her God.

Though he inhaled deeply, he never exhaled the putrid smoke anywhere near her, she found. Sadly, that still didn’t help with the horribly foul smell stirring in the room. Selina’s lungs burned for a moment, and she coughed out once quite softly considering how she felt like drowning. That resulted in one of the most surprising things that had occurred yet.

At once, Arthur’s eyes widened, and he then looked down at his cigarette. Without her even uttering a single word, he put the burning cigarette out onto the edge of his plate. Pressing it down while the grey ashes caved around his plate, he pocketed the cigarette almost bashfully.

Sliding his chair up closely into the table, Arthur shyly threw her a penitent gaze that presented true empathy for her coughing and discomfort experienced. Remorsefully, he maundered, “Sorry about that. I can’t seem to ever quit.”

“I don’t care, it’s your lungs; not mine,” Selina barked while fanning the air surrounding herself, eager to remove the awful stench of tobacco from her clothes and nostrils.

Looking at her thoroughly from head to toe, Arthur seemed pleased with what he was seeing. Nodding at her thick sweater, he inquired, “Are you cold?”

She raked her blue eyes skyward. “Of course I’m cold! Can’t you tell because of the dip in temperature???” Was he _that_ stupid and numb to everything??

Selina didn’t suppose that he was…but then again, on live television, he’d stated to Murray that he wasn’t the kind of clown that could start a movement. Well, she certainly didn’t peg him as a total moron, not by any means necessary. He had to have been clever enough to take the patient file from her in the midst of a chaotic moment without being spotted. He was clever enough to draw her out based on what she needed and wanted, and he certainly knew how to toy with her friends to bend and twist them into the shadows…but was he _really_ the genius mastermind who could plot and scheme as if he wanted to pull off a bank robbery?

….

Gazing intently at him to gather the information and pieces so she could decide, Selina only saw one thing and one thing alone when she eyed Arthur Fleck seated there in the stupid, crazy pink chair meant for a kindergartener. He squirmed, he fidgeted, and he blushed.

…No. This wasn’t a psychopathic genius who knew how to string people along to do his crazy bidding. Not by a long shot. Selina had known a few of those individuals in her lifetime before, and none of them acted like Arthur Fleck.

But then, _who_ was Arthur Fleck??? More questions instead of answers hit her, and Selina was stunned. Did this mean she would have to get him to speak some more? She hoped not, but right now, Selina had no clue who Arthur Fleck was, and what he represented. When she was a lot younger, Selina’s mother had told her that everyone in the world had something to offer. According to her mother’s generous philosophy, everyone represented something. This something could’ve been a calling for a career path, a purpose in life for a social movement, a religious duty, to become a parent, or dedicate a lot of time and energy giving back to helping society flourish and grow. Yes, it even seemed that the ‘bad’ people in the world had their own representations and calling, and it was mainly serving as an eye opener for the good folks of the world not to go down that road, be more forgiving, be grateful…

Or so her mother had told her. Back then, a younger, effervescent Selina Kyle had listened more intently to her mother and believed anything. Back then, life hadn’t been so cold, unforgiving, and cruel. Now much older and jaded, a wiser Selina-although perhaps leaning a bit towards misanthropy and cynicism-knew that her mother meant well, but she didn’t get it. Not everyone had a ‘thing’ to represent in life. Some people were ‘ghosts’ or blank slates, as Selina categorized them. They walked around aimlessly, without any goals or plans, and for the most part, they always seemed too exhausted and dead to the world.

Eerily, Arthur Fleck didn’t appear to be a ‘ghost’ or a blank, vacive slate in that sense, either. As in the photos of him she’d found in his file, he was still quite thin, but his eyes held an entire world she still wasn’t sure she could be able to handle walking into. The colors and lights swirled and slashed about, much like an explosive hurricane and waterfall blend. It was…mesmerizing and fascinating to her…yes, Arthur’s eyes left Selina feeling hypnotized and enthralled, but not frozen to the point where she couldn’t do anything.

She most certainly could, and she unleashed her frustrations and anger out by stabbing roughly and violently into her salad. Bits of carrot and bean shot up, almost flying into the air. Selina ripped through her poor lettuce, but she didn’t care. Stabbing away while imagining that it was Arthur Fleck’s face down at the bottom of her bowl she was stabbing at so her fork prongs dug in deeper helped. Putting more force behind her actions, she nearly made the tiny table teeter and rattle due to the way her hands and shoulders pounded down.

Arthur watched her hands for a moment before asking gently, “Do you want to wear my jacket?”

Selina nearly wasn’t able to hear him over the sound of her own mental anguish and screaming. Her inner voice shouted at her to end this before it was too late. She still had time! She could’ve made good on her escape!!!

But there was the urgent matter of her promise to Dr. Jonathan Crane, and his imminent promise to her…

She couldn’t leave empty handed.

The table suddenly moved, and Selina abandoned her insufficient thoughts for the moment. Trading daydreaming and clairvoyance for alertness, she scowled menacingly forth at Arthur. He’d moved the table in the obvious way to catch her attention. Selina may not have known ‘boys’ and men for long, but she wasn’t a complete idiot when it came to how they behaved around her. In whatever way he chose to display it, Arthur Fleck seemed smitten with her on some level, but she avoided addressing it. Perhaps if she ignored it and didn’t ever acknowledge it, the elephant in the room would disappear forever.

Again, he offered softly, “I c-can give you my jacket to keep you warm.”

Studying his apparel for a moment, Selina had to again wonder just how many rules of Arkham Hospital Arthur Fleck was apparently allowed to get away with breaking. While she was wearing her white uniform, he had donned dark casual pants, almost like jogging pants. They were loose and almost like the pants on men Selina had seen out in the parks. On his upper torso, he wore a dark green and black striped flannel shirt, the sleeves rolled down to his bony, sharp elbows. His veins and bones were far too prominent, and it completely turned Selina’s stomach upside down. On his feet, he had on fuzzy dark slippers, though they were matted and roughened due to use and age.

She didn’t know what to make of him still, and it troubled her.

Remembering that he was still waiting for an answer to his last question posed, Selina huffed in disappointment at him. “I don’t need anything from you, so don’t even bother.”

While she pouted, Arthur nodded at her meal. “It’ll get cold!”

She didn’t care, but she began attacking her salad anyway. She’d barely gotten a few bites through when Arthur frowned. It was a first, and she didn’t like it. Thinking she’d done something wrong, she stopped, and quickly swallowed the bite she’d been working on masticating.

“What do you want, now?”

Ignoring her raw rudeness, he commented with great exuberance, “You’re pretty thin, why won’t you eat more chicken?”

Rolling her eyes, she spat back, “Have you taken a look into a mirror, recently?” To make herself clear in case he was adamant on playing games, she expounded, “You’re a walking skeleton.”

Throwing his head back and laughing, Arthur replied, “You sound just like my mother!! She used to tell me to eat more and that I was so skinny!!”

Selina couldn’t help but notice how her heart skipped a beat. He’d brought up the topic of his mother, and that disturbed her. She knew what Arthur Fleck had done to his poor mother, Penny Fleck. Disgusted that he’d broached the topic himself yet again in such a light tone, her frazzled nausea increased dramatically once she identified that he’d been comparing her to someone who’d supposedly abused him repeatedly.

Rude.

No longer hungry, she shoved her plate aside while throwing the gauche Arthur Fleck a disturbed glare. “I’m _not_ your mother,” she hissed in a warning, “if that’s why you’ve called me here, then you’ve got bigger issues than I thought.”

Her conscience suddenly warned her, _‘Smart move, Selina, make him mad and cause him to lash out. How brilliant, girl.’_ Wincing, she almost expected for things to go sour, but oddly enough, they didn’t. Arthur only smiled at her widely, and he resembled a child on Christmas morning before a large horde of presents down by the tree.

Folding his hands in his lap, he twitched for a moment, but then he stood still in one second. It was rather odd how he quickly fluctuated from one extreme to the next in the blink of an eye. He was either completely insane, or not of this world…he wasn’t normal, was he?

…Then again, just what the hell was normal??? Who was normal?? What was the appropriate, exact definition of the word?? Did a definition even exist to begin with?

So many thoughts flooded into her mind at once, and Selina went reeling. Placing a hand over her stomach to keep her food down, she bemoaned, “The room’s spinning…”

“I think you’re very interesting, Selina!” Arthur went on blurting out awkwardly, in spite of the fact that she was swooning. “You’re a nice person, and I just want to talk to you more. I didn’t mean to say you were like my mother.”

Not really caring about those odd comparisons right now when it felt as though she was going to land on the floor face first, Selina pointed at his scratch marks. “Oh yeah, a real _nice_ person would scratch your face up like that for sure, you fool.” She couldn’t believe this man and all his depraved ramblings. Shaking her head at him proved to be a stupid move, however; the room _really_ started to spin, now.

Would she be able to keep her food down?!?

Concern suddenly struck Arthur then. Eyebrows flying up, he braced both hands on the table, and he very gingerly leaned forward. “Are you feeling okay?” came his gentle tone, filled with emotions and colors Selina couldn’t believe were pouring forth from him.

She couldn’t sit here and listen to more…

“I’m…f-fine…”

“Don’t lie to me, please,” he begged almost petulantly, eyes slightly dewy. “Don’t be like the others and lie!”

Clenching her teeth, she hissed as her jaw tightened, “I _am_ like the others, you god damn loon!!” Chin jutting forth at his scratch marks, she explained thoroughly, “Look at what I did to you! Does a good, normal person do that to someone else?? Huh?!?”

In the silence that followed, Selina realized something rather strong and potent. It was practically deafening as it rang in her ears, and then sank down within the pit of her heart. It grew and grew, like someone had planted a seed there in her core. It smothered her, and she had to hold back on exploding in pure rage. Though it wasn’t Arthur Fleck she was furious with; it was her own self.

She was angry with herself for lashing out at him, marring his face, and behaving like a damn animal. She abhorred herself for resorting to vilifying him as only a dumb disguise in the way of the truth of the matter.

Arthur didn’t seem to want to comment, but by hanging his head and remaining quiet, he unfortunately communicated and presented the wrong message and wrong symbols to Selina. She thought he didn’t want to argue with her any further, but had conceded her wild point. This stung her for a magnitude of reasons she didn’t understand and want to linger by and understand. Since she’d sat down before him, nothing but clouds of confusion and turmoil brewed about over her head, and she’d had more than enough of them. This was far too much to handle in one night alone. It was getting late, she was getting angry, exhausted, and short-tempered.

Time to go.

Abruptly standing, she blurted quickly, “I have to go!”

Tearing after her, Arthur cried out weakly, “B-but you just got here!!”

Making sure her sweater was pushed down, Selina crossed over towards the door, and she kicked and pounded at it a few times. Not even glancing over her shoulder, she yelled, “I am leaving!!”

Standing on her toes, then, she fervently peered out past the glass insert, and to her relief, she saw the same guard who’d opened the door for her steadily approaching. Nodding at him, Selina stood by and waited for him to unlock the door and let her out once again. She could practically taste the relief of her own room, and she wanted nothing more than to race to her own bed and just forget all of this.

Behind her, a persistent Arthur Fleck strongly argued, “You didn’t even eat!! Sit down and eat at least!!”

Before he could lay a finger on her, Selina whirled around on time. Right hand jutting out between their bodies, she growled ferociously, “Don’t touch me!” The savage nature her tone and facial expressions took on did the trick as far as keeping Arthur at bay was concerned. Fearful of an attack coming his way, he took a step back just on time when the door opened.

The guard frowned at them both, but then snapped at Arthur, “Get back unless you want me to take you down, Fleck.”

Shifting backwards, Arthur didn’t remove his eyes off Selina’s form the entire time. As the guard gripped her shoulder, shoved her out of his room, and walked her down the long, dark hallway, Arthur slowly inched up to the door and stared on at Selina even after his door had been tightly sealed and locked.

(***’’***”)

The moment she’d been escorted back to Dr. Jonathan Crane’s office, the psychiatrist stood by his desk waiting for Selina’s return. The shiny lights bounced off his clean lenses, giving him an even deadlier appearance than usual. Aura completely dark surrounding him, he held out a hand expectantly before the young blonde.

“You have something for me.” The way he’d presented that declarative statement left no room for a squabble or skirmish; she had to ‘pay up’.

Without hesitating, Selina reached into her back pocket, and she withdrew the tape recorder. Slamming it down onto the open palm of Dr. Crane’s hand, she scowled viciously at the swasivious man. Not even the slightest bit perturbed, he smirked and held the object to his chest while his fingers closed protectively over it.

Clearing his throat, he spoke out, “You’re back early…I’m surprised he didn’t beg you to stay.”

Not at all wanting to play the game any longer than she had for the night, Selina pointed at the recorder. “Whatever you want is on there, but I’m sorry to inform you that it’s nothing super exciting; you may find yourself bored.”

Stepping up to her almost in a predatory fashion, Dr. Crane’s lips pursed, and his eyes turned a shade darker in a light warning for her lip. “I believe I’ll be the judge of that, Miss Kyle,” came his acrid reply. “I think I’d like to do this again a few more times, should Mr. Fleck call upon you…” The way his eyes glowered at her seemed to communicate one thing; she had no other say in the matter, and if it was to happen, she had to go along with it.

Selina crumbled and buckled right then and there. Sniffling, she tried holding it together before she imploded in the middle of his office like a young child.

Waving her away as to shoo her from his sight, Dr. Crane snapped coldly, “Goodnight, Miss Kyle.”

That was all he needed to say to accourage her to flee. Not needing more in the way of a degrading, insulting hint, Selina sprinted back to her room. The other levels of the hospital she dragged herself up flew past her, not even registering in her brain or eyes. Flying past paintings, old water fountains, old glass displays containing who-knew-what, she eventually reached her room on the sixth floor. Flinging her small body at the door, she found that to her relief, the door had already been unlocked for her return. As soon as Selina burst into the room, she kicked off her sneakers messily, nearly tripping over them clumsily.

Making way for her bed, Selina tore off the ugly sweater, not caring where it landed. She knew she only wanted it off her body, as it was making her skin itch. Knowing that her door was tightly shut and locked for the night, Selina wasted no more time in curling up into a ball on the center of her bed. While the night animals made their routine nightly noises outside in the world far from Arkham State Hospital, Selina Kyle broke. Clamping a hand over her mouth didn’t even work to muffle her pained cries. Once the tears started pouring freely, that was it.

Giving in to it no matter how much she didn’t want to, for the first time in nearly a year, Selina cried like a young, abandoned child for an entire night. This time however, she was weeping alone, and she felt so lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Selina :( She's actually questioning a lot about Arthur, now, and she knows what she's doing with Dr. Crane isn't good at all :(


	11. On the Rocks

Bright and early the next morning, Dr. Crane began ‘group therapy’. Since he’d returned from his vacation, he’d really made sure to ‘double up’ on therapy for all patients. As per the requirements in Arkham State Hospital, all patients were obligated to participate in group therapy sessions once per week while also attending to their weekly appointments with Dr. Crane. No one could escape the rules, and Selina wasn’t an exception to them. As much as she wanted to sleep in past ten in the morning on that following Thursday after speaking with Arthur Fleck and dining with him, it just wasn’t feasible.

Sharlet woke her up by pulling her sheet off her, while Larry and Harry handed her a cup of coffee and some toast. Selina didn’t take the toast, but she gladly accepted the coffee. It wasn’t too hot, so she downed it in a few deep gulps, and then followed her friends to the third level of the hospital where majority of the meetings and therapy sessions took place.

An old, large gymnasium served as the space for the activity, and a lot of former drug addicts and homeless people who had somehow ended up in Arkham Hospital after being abandoned by their families and society were walking about while a few staff members and guards stacked the chairs in an expansive, wide circle.

Eyeing it, Selina groaned and had been in the midst of thinking to turn back, when she nearly bumped into Dr. Crane. The brunette just waltzed in past the open double doors of the gymnasium, holding a clipboard in his left hand, with a notebook tucked between the armpit of his right hand. Behind his right ear sat a dark pen, and he glared at Selina especially for getting in his way.

“Step aside, Miss Kyle,” he growled deeply at her. When he’d breezed past them, Larry flipped him off proudly, and Harry stuck out his tongue at his turned back.

Pointing at him with her thumb, Sharlet murmured, “He’s grumpy in the mornings a lot, so we better sit down and stop messing about.”

Nodding in agreement, Selina and the twins all sat together, but the moment Selina wedged herself between Larry’s body and Sharlet’s, Dr. Crane snapped his fingers at them and shook his head in obvious signs of disapproval. “Nooo, no you don’t,” he chuckled out dryly, “Miss Kyle, you sit right here next to me.” Petting the vacant grey chair next to himself, he added, “I can’t have you chattering about with your friends all during group, can I?”

Glaring soundly at him, Selina only thought to herself, _‘You self-righteous bastard.’_ Forcing herself to get up and sit next to him, she caught the apologetic look emanating from Sharlet and the twins. It didn’t do much to fend off the burning mortification from her cheeks, but at least the gymnasium full of people speaking with themselves, twitching, imagining things that weren’t there, picking at their own skin, and playing with their clothes helped in the matter that no one had likely noticed it, anyway.

So much the better.

“Everyone, please sit down! Group therapy’s about to begin!!” Raising his heinous voice more than he needed to, Dr. Crane waved at the nurses and orderlies, and they all fell in line with his motions. Guiding patients to their seats, they stood or sat next to ones that required extra assistance, and Dr. Crane lay the clipboard flat over his lap.

Yanking forth his dark pen, he popped open the cap while Selina leaned over and took a short glance at the page over the wooden clipboard.

Evidently, it was the wrong thing to do. All it earned her was a resolute scowl from Dr. Crane. Shifting, he held the clipboard out of her line of view. “That’s _not_ for your eyes, Miss Kyle,” he snapped moodily at her, crossing one leg over the other while folding his notepad beneath the clipboard. All set, he then waited until everyone ceased shuffling and shifting about.

The large, rectangular windows and skylight high above in the ceiling brought large amounts of grey light streaming past clouds. It was an overcast day, and the old paintings and murals strewn from the yellow stained walls served as nothing but an extrinsic feature of the old building. The temperature dipped in the gym, but Selina felt that even if it had been warmer in here, she still wouldn’t be too comfortable. She was highly nonplussed about what kind of ‘therapy’ Dr. Crane had planned, and that was the only thing holding her down in her seat.

When he had obviously taken more than enough time to go through his ‘notes’ and accourt himself, Dr. Crane hummed deeply to himself, clicking his tongue against his teeth. The clock ticked far too loudly high on the wall, and Selina wished she held the mystical powers to speed the damn thing up.

This was grating already…

Glancing up, Dr. Crane nodded at the group. “Alright,” his voice rang out crisply, doing a good job at drawing plenty of attention unto himself. “Last week we discussed the matter of ‘wrong’ and ‘right’, what’s morally acceptable in society and what isn’t. I feel we should extend this discussion today, and to help majority of you participate as opposed to _last time_ , why don’t we use an example you would all identify with?”

Smirking evilly as though he knew a secret none of them ever would, he finally barked out curtly, “Let’s talk about Joker.”

Stupefied by the notion, Selina froze up. If Dr. Crane was expecting for her to start the session and discussion, he was going to be sorely disappointed.

Staring around the room, Dr. Crane’s eyebrows flew up when no one offered a single comment. Shaking his head slowly, he groused, “Not a peep, huh? Strange, I hear all too often about how wonderful you lot think he is.”

….

A heavy, pregnant pause still hung about in the room, and many of the individuals seated in the circle either stared away at each other, their own feet, the floor, the walls, or the ceiling.

This was no good.

Already ‘fed up’, Dr. Crane yanked his thin-framed glasses off and set them down onto his clipboard. “I guess I’ll have to select someone at random if you’re all going to insist on remaining ‘tight-lipped’…” Eyes circling the room, he wasn’t even looking her way when he clicked out, “Miss Kyle, you may begin.”

Many pairs of eyes landed on her frame, and Selina sneered. _‘You son of a bitch, you’re doing this on purpose!’_

Trying to gather her thoughts in order to remain as composed and neutral as possible, she shifted and swayed back and forth in her seat while coughing, “Umm, I’m not sure what you want me to—”

“Joker, Miss Kyle,” the narquois psychiatrist snapped at her far too petulantly for the blonde to handle, “we’re talking about Joker today, do you follow me so far?”

Batting her eyelashes at him while blinking many times in awe and shock due to the naufrageous situation, Selina nodded slowly, resisting the urge to maunder something out at the cusp of her inflamed emotions. She wasn’t sure why he was barking at her and treating her this way, but there wasn’t much she could do to defend herself. Either way she looked at it, she had to pick her words wisely.

Not wanting to be insulted further, she nodded at Dr. Crane as though she truly knew what to say. Tongue heavy and throat dry, she weakly rasped, “So…I just…you want me to um…”

Rolling his pale blue eyes, he commented, “Why don’t you start by telling us all what you think of him, seeing as how you’ve never spoken to him.” Eyes narrowing at her knowingly, his conduct did very little to ease her nerves.

_‘You damn monster. You’d use any card and any trick to scare me, wouldn’t you?’_

Looking over at Sharlet, she caught her friend shaking her head ‘no’ a few times wildly, perhaps in a warning that Selina shouldn’t say a word.

….

“Miss Kyle? The clock’s ticking,” a moody Dr. Jonathan Crane orated loudly.

It seemed more logical to just say something in the hopes that it would satisfy the control freak and shut him up, she supposed. Vowing to do just that, Selina threw her long hair over her shoulders and straightened her body posture. “Fine,” she began in a dangerous snarl, “I can’t say I’ve ever understood the man, but maybe he had a reason to do the things he did.”

….

Sharlet and the twins frowned, and then their jaws dropped widely. It appeared as though they were trying to shout out: _‘Have you lost your mind?’_ to her, but there wasn’t a way for them to verbalize that.

She knew she was behaving quite oddly given how much she’d argued and pontificated to her friends about despising Arthur Fleck. This had to have shocked them more than anything else, and she couldn’t really hold it against them or blame them for it. Had she herself been on the receiving end of it, she would’ve thought she’d gone raving mad, too.

Not really moved by her discourse, Dr. Crane curled a finger beneath his sharply chiseled chin and studied her for a moment or two. Before the room could break out in hushed whispers and murmurs, he asked her, “And what do you think of him, then? Hmm? Do you like him? Do you despise him?”

Not wanting to preach about the subject more than she already had, Selina disclosed honestly, “No, I don’t like him at all.” 

Suddenly, a deep voice snidely commented, “Pitiful, really.”

Both Selina and Dr. Crane stared forth, and they’d quickly identified the speaker. A round, clearly overweight man who was balding shook his head while scratching away at his shiny head. His thin brown hair parted beneath his chubby fingers, and his wide nose and nostrils flared at Selina for daring to say what she had.

Raising a light-colored eyebrow, the young woman inquired, “What’s the issue, now? I just answered his question!”

His bulbous stomach and double chin jutted out at her obscenely. The man roared in opposition and antagonism, “It doesn’t matter!! I knew Arthur Fleck from work, and how anyone couldn’t like him is absurd and beyond me!!”

Forgetting that she was among others in a huge room with open space, Selina grasped onto the words flowing from this man’s lips. With much interest, she energetically asked, “Wait!! You knew him??? How??”

As if bored already, the nefandous man answered, “I worked as a party clown with him at _Ha-Ha’s_ , it was an entertainment company and mini-circus, if you can think of it like that.”

Nodding, Selina could almost picture this enormous man donning plenty of bright clown makeup while strutting about during special events and parties. “Makes sense,” she sighed, “but what did you actually talk about during work?”

As they went back and forth on and on, the faint scratching of Dr. Crane’s pen running along the page in his notepad could be heard. It didn’t bother Selina or the patient she’d been speaking with. If anything, she was more annoyed with the man’s large ego, his gall, and his self-superior attitude. Where did he get such a pompous attitude from, anyway?

Glaring heatedly at him, she didn’t want to ask the burning question, but did so anyway. “What’s your name??”

Grunting, he replied, “I’m Mikey, but my stage name was ‘Gumbo Junior’.”

Fair enough.

Staying on target, Selina jabbed aggressively, “Alright then, Mikey, but what exactly did you speak of with Arthur Fleck when you were working with him?”

That was precisely when the pressure mounted substantially on Mikey’s large, heavy shoulders. When everyone had been eyeing him, expecting an answer, he flushed deeply and stared down at the floor. “It’s none of your damn business!” he snapped angrily at her, wiping away some sweat off his cheeks and forehead.

Grinning in triumph, Selina sighed in self-satisfaction. “As I thought; you probably treated him like shit before you knew what he was capable of, huh?” Catching the fleeting look of horror, bewilderment, and rage wavering in Mikey’s eyes set her on fire. She knew she’d been correct in this assertion, and she despised the large man even more for his cowardice.

“Why don’t you just admit it to everyone here, hmm?” She purred delightfully, “Arthur Fleck was a damn no one, and a freakish nuisance to you before, wasn’t he?”

“I…no…th-that’s not true!” Mikey argued back slowly, trying to save face desperately, but failed miserably in the process anyway.

Shaking her head, Selina firmly ground out, “You know, I absolutely despise people like _you_.”

Gaping at her, Mikey wheezed softly, “What’re you yammerin’ on about, now?”

“Oh, you know _very damn well_ ,” Selina bitterly answered while pulling a disgusted face. Pointing at him, she attacked loudly, “You are such a damn sensationalist, aren’t you??? Eager to leap on a bandwagon or attach yourself to someone’s name and reputation, especially when they’re having a tough time, are caught in the middle of a sticky situation, all for clout and attention.” Snorting derisively, she finished, “You’re absolutely pathetic. You probably didn’t even know what Arthur Fleck even _looked like_ before he started being Joker, and since he stood up and had the gumption and guts to speak freely about what he felt and thought on television, that was when he suddenly became amazing and popular for you, huh?”

Addressing more than only Mikey, now, Selina’s head went around the entire room. Eyes assessing and scrutinizing everyone around herself alike, she growled viciously, “All of you should be ashamed of yourselves. To you, people like Arthur Fleck are just weirdos and freaks, right? Easy to ignore, easy to forget. You’ll have _no_ issues at all mocking him and laughing at him because he’s strange looking, he lived with his mother, he talks funny, and he’s socially awkward, right?”

Pulling an even deeper moue of disgust and pettiness, she went on. “You guys aren’t so perfect, either. I bet you all get embarrassed easily, I bet you all cry more than you laugh, and you have nothing better to do in your own pathetic, meager lives but to poke fun at someone else who’s less fortunate than you are. And why??? Why???” No one was brave enough to answer her question, but it was rhetorical, anyway.

“You’re _all_ like this only because you’re tired and frustrated with your own stupid, dull lives, so in order to feel alive and empowered once again, you’ll pick on the smaller guy, won’t you?” Chuckling dryly, she took a moment to breathe in and out, refilling her lungs and refreshing her system. She also needed a few seconds to calm down before she exploded violently in front of everyone.

Crossing her arms over her chest in hostility, Selina gave out a tiny, pained sigh before she whispered, “You guys disgust me. It’s sickening how you treated him, and now, in order to escape from that guilt, you’re hoping to absolve yourselves by raving on and on about how he’s some kind of hero, about how you really thought he was cool all along and liked him. You god damn liars…”

When she’d finished, she trembled and shook on her seat, eyes burning horribly. She realized she hadn’t blinked in a while, and as she did, her eyeballs flooded with water. Dabbing at them quickly, she glanced at Dr. Crane. The nefastous man had ceased writing a while ago, and now, he sat facing Selina with a most complacent smile painted along his face.

Folding his hands in his lap, his pen dangled between his middle and index finger. His chest puffed out, and he exhaled slowly. A proud expression came over him as he said, “And here you told us in the beginning that you didn’t like Arthur, Miss Kyle…I believe that was rather deceptive of you.”

Shrugging apathetically, Selina snapped, “Think whatever you want, but I swear, I’m _not_ gonna put up with the bullshit in this world for much longer.”

Adjusting his glasses, Dr. Crane drawled, “Oh yes, we all heard that, Miss Kyle…in fact, I think Mr. Fleck himself may have a few words of his own about it.”

Feeling as though someone had electrocuted her, Selina had been about to shoot out something highly inappropriate, when she heard someone shuffling inside the room. At once, all the heads in the room moved up, and gasps of shock flew out.

Standing right there behind a small patient was Arthur Fleck. His hands and wrists were bound and strongly handcuffed, of course, and two nettlesome guards stood posted on either side of him.

Blanching, Selina had to wonder just how long he’d been there, and how much of her words he’d heard…she supposed he’d heard the whole thing, for he gazed only at her with such an intense heat that it could’ve matched a thousand burning suns. It was a look of pure adoration and admiration, and Selina felt her skin itching the longer he stared at her in that way.

Wagging a finger beneath her nose, Dr. Crane scolded her, “Never lie again in therapy!!”

That wasn’t on her list of concerns in the slightest; how Arthur was going to continuously react to her was.

 _‘This asshole!!! He probably planned all this from the very beginning!’_ Thoughts flying and spinning about, she felt herself growing weaker and weaker in the knees while the guards dragged Arthur over to one last empty seat next to two half-lucid women drooling on themselves. Once he’d seated himself down, he lifted a hand and waved at Selina.

Mortified beyond belief, Selina unthinkingly cried out, “Wh-what’s _he_ d-doing here?!?” Squirming in her seat uncomfortably, it took all her willpower not to notice how fondly and appreciatively Arthur’s eyes grazed along her frazzled form.

Impatiently, Dr. Crane gazed down at his notes, reviewing them silently before answering sardonically, “Mr. Fleck’s here for group therapy, same way you are, Miss Kyle. He’s a patient here, just like yourself, and there’s no reason for us to keep him locked up away from everyone; he’s not an animal…” Finally looking up at her, he flashed her a crooked smile that would’ve looked so appealing on a scarecrow.

“…I’m sure _you_ can agree on this whole heartedly, right Miss Kyle?”

The twinkling in Dr. Crane’s eyes never ceased, and neither did the sparkling essence within Arthur’s eyes. However, Selina clearly noticed quite an obvious distinction between the way Dr. Jonathan Crane was watching her, and the way Arthur Fleck was watching her.

(***’’***”)

After the more than awkward group therapy session, Dr. Crane amplified his psychologically petty games. The acidulous man did everything in his power to try and make Selina feel highly uncomfortable, and the way he achieved this was by ensuring that the young woman was always within the same room as Arthur Fleck.

It was completely bizarre. The older male hadn’t usually been permitted to be among other patients for the first two years of his stay at Arkham Sate Hospital, but now, everywhere Selina went, Arthur could be found, too. Under the guise of them working on the same chore or task together, Dr. Crane would arrange for them both to interact.

Painful. Reprehensible.

Selina couldn’t work like this. One evening, she’d been assigned to ‘dish duty’, and thinking that she’d be completing the task with Sharlet at her side, the women had barely turned on the sink faucet, when Dr. Crane bulldozed in with Arthur Fleck following him.

“Change of plan, darlings,” he spat out sarcastically, almost shoving Arthur inside the back of the kitchen. “Sharlet, come with me, please.”

Trading Arthur for the young woman, Dr. Crane led Selina’s closest friend away while the blonde sputtered and gaped for a full minute. The door swung shut, and she caught the shadows of at least two guards moving about on the other side. This didn’t alarm her; she’d grown accustomed to having ‘backup’ waiting by whenever she’d been left alone with Arthur.

And she _really_ didn’t want to be alone with him, now.

Ever since she’d blurted out her little ‘speech’ in group therapy, Arthur seemed more than thrilled to be around her. Following her like a shadow, he stuck by her side, and whenever they were ‘working’ together, he would take on majority of the work himself. Not that Selina minded him volunteering to get the bulk of it done. It helped her quite a lot, but she really didn’t enjoy him trailing after her like a lost puppy. It was sickening and annoying, to say the least, and she despised a man older than herself gazing at her like she’d hung the moon and stars.

….

Just how old was Arthur Fleck, anyway??? She’d never cared to ask, and she found it’d be rude to do so. Forgetting the age factor for a moment, Selina decided to get started on washing the heaps and mountain piles of dishes before the guards noticed her slacking off. There was no telling just what else the twisted, cruel Dr. Jonathan Crane would plan for her once he found out she wasn’t keen on working to complete her given tasks. She wouldn’t put it past him to torture her that way.

Not too eager about coming up with ways Dr. Crane could possibly torment and bully her, Selina nodded over at Arthur. The dishes on the old, broken counters had been neatly separated and divided in four large stacks, each of them almost hitting the foul ceiling above.

Time to get to work.

“You know the drill,” she sighed in exhaustion, moving to grab a dish cloth. “I’ll wash, you dry.” Before she could even dip her hands under the spray of the water, a masculine-yet bony-hand rested down on hers.

Emitting a squeak that sounded so unbecoming of her, Selina rasped, “Whaaa?!”

“I’ll do that,” Arthur volunteered with a half-smile, “you can dry them.”

….

What was he up to??

She wondered, but she didn’t wish to stand around arguing. Moving herself to his right, she gripped the dish cloth, and she only observed as he wet his hands first before grabbing onto a filthy plate. Rinsing it carefully all around, first, he reached for the disgusting, grimy sponge, and then squirted old soap onto it.

The bubbles flew up into the air, and while he rubbed and added more, Selina let out a pained sigh. Her feet ached, but she didn’t want to complain much to draw his sympathy and attention. She only shifted her weight back and forth, curled and unfurled her toes, stretched her feet wherever she could, and then moved her hips back and forth from side to side to do a little ‘exercise’ of her own creation.

While she cleverly went about it for a moment, when a guard outside cough particularly loudly, it frightened her due to how silent and peaceful it’d been previously. She’d been in the midst of another ‘stretch’ when the cough scared the daylights out of her, and she lost her balance. Her left hip bone slammed into Arthur’s right hip bone, and she’d flailed about clumsily. The dish Arthur had been working on cleaning slipped out from his fingers, and it plopped back into the murky water slowly rising in the sink. With faster reflexes than she’d anticipated of him to possess, Arthur spun on his heel and embraced her. Long, thin arms wrapped around her macilent form, enveloping her against his broad chest. Strangely, the moment Selina’s body connected with Arthur’s, the young woman was surprised. She hadn’t expected for him to be so strong and well-built, even though he appeared to be so frail and fragile.

What was this?!?

Her chin rested along the curve of his collarbone, and she inhaled his scent for a moment.

This time, he smelled vaguely of apples and cinnamon…she liked apples, and she loved cinnamon…

With a strained roar, she placed both hands on his sternum, and she shoved him as far away from herself as she could. Grateful for the space that was now between their bodies, she brushed her long hair back, and then gathered it in a loose ponytail. She couldn’t even see straight, let alone think clearly. Her hair was in her face more than she liked, and she quickly tied it back with a scrunchie that always hung about her left wrist.

Snarling at him while he watched her, she commented, “The water’s being wasted, you moron!!”

Diving in the way, she made to try and wash the plates herself, but Arthur was adamant on not allowing that. He gripped her wrists strongly, and he held her back.

Kicking at him in frustration, Selina hissed between clenched teeth, “Don’t touch me! I can do it myself!!” She knew it was pointless to struggle, but the brat within herself forced her to do so. Kicking away madly, she bashed her ankles and knees into the cupboard beneath the sink, and she only stopped when Arthur leaned over her.

“You’ll hurt yourself if you don’t stop,” he pointed out wisely, “please relax a bit, okay?”

Squinting at him, Selina seethed viciously. “Relax??? _Relax?!?!_ How can I relax with you around?!”

He wasn’t at all offended, and he merely released her wrists before moving on to work on washing the rest of the large plates. “You said such sweet things about me earlier,” sighing softly, he expounded gently, “that was very nice. No one has ever stuck up for me much before…” Giggling, he stated, “Well, except for Gary!!” Rutilant eyes beaming brightly, he held out a hand and pointed down at the floor. “He was a good friend to me, and he was a really short guy! I liked him!!”

“Ugh,” Selina crudely groaned, “I wouldn’t know the guy, honestly, but whatever makes you happy.”

Turning to her, he stated openly, “You make me happy, Selina.” The way he’d announced it was rather ‘final’, but she didn’t want to hear it.

Frowning upon hearing what she considered a jejune and foolish declaration, she shivered as she rebuked, “Stop it. Just concentrate on the work, before we both get into trouble!”

Not giving up, he repeated firmly, “You do make me happy. You’re being really nice to me—err, well,” pausing, he laughed a tiny laugh that hovered on the edge of discomfort for a moment before setting aside the dishes he’d rinsed up onto the counter for her to dry off.

Snatching them, Selina growled under her breath before setting to work.

“You’re acting a bit mean to me now,” Arthur pointed out factually, “but I know it’s because there are guards listening, and you’re only doing it to protect yourself.”

….

The son of a bitch was wrong. He was wrong!! There was _no_ way on earth she’d _ever_ be nice to him under any circumstance!!

Resisting the urge to elbow him violently, she commented in a light hiss, “You’re full of it, Fleck. I’m not being nice to you because I like you; I’m doing it for _me_.” While she stacked the freshly washed and dried off dishes, the clean pile grew. He kept cleaning them, and he’d hand them to her to dry.

They worked silently for almost ten minutes when he spoke up again.

“I think you’re a good person deep down, Selina,” came the declaration so full of promise and hope that she nearly vomited. Arthur began working on washing the utensils, but every so often, he would peek over at her and smile innocently.

Still feeling disgusted, Selina jabbed ferociously, “Think you know me that well, huh? Well,” yanking open another drawer to drop the utensils into, she concluded, “you’re wrong! People are shitty through and through; you said so yourself on TV.”

At once, Arthur set the utensils down, and he gasped at her so loudly that it embarrassed her. Checking over her shoulder, she was surprised the guards hadn’t heard him squealing.

Ever so giddy, Arthur exhaled brightly, “You watched me on the Murray Franklin show??!”

….

His reaction to her words had been very odd, to say the least. Caught between not knowing how to respond and wanting to fabricate a lie, Selina ground out pathetically, “Umm…I…yeah?”

Shoot! She couldn’t lie to this man!!! What was becoming of her courage??

Gazing at her as though she were some kind of goddess walking the earth, Arthur cooed on a high-pitched note, “You watched me on the show…you were watching me…”

What did it matter?? Why was she the special one in this case??

Sticking to that for a well-rounded, ‘logical’ response, she threw the utensils he handed over to her into the drawer. While they clattered about loudly, she threw out, “Look, I’m willing to bet that over two-hundred-thousand people were probably watching you that night all across the board. What does it matter if I happened to be one of those people?”

Whispering next to her hotly, Arthur protested, “You’re _not_ like them though, Selina!! How could you say that?!?” He seemed so appalled and offended, that it cut through Selina’s heart for a second. It really appeared as though someone had either told him Santa Claus wasn’t real, or the Easter Bunny was a fable and myth for children’s entertainment.

While he gazed at her brokenly, Selina felt irritation seeping like poison into her veins. There was the possibility that she could just end her frustrations by playing along with his whims and fantasies…yes, perhaps that would get him off her back for a while?

His jaw hung open slightly, and he sniffled as he threw in more dishes among the suds and murky water. “You’re better than them, so don’t you say that stuff to me ever again.”

Yep. He was upset, and it was all her fault. Lovely.

Not at all charmed by this notion, Selina found she wasn’t in the mood to let him stew like a child in his own anger. They still had a lot of work to do, and the larger piles weren’t decreasing anytime soon.

She suddenly had a darn good idea.

Placing her chin onto his right shoulder courageously, she smirked playfully while eyeing him coquettishly. “Listen, I promise you that when we’re done here, we can chat more in your room if you want.” She knew she’d taken a huge risk by stepping outside her own comfort zones, but she felt it was the only way to get him to co-operate with her without a fuss. She had a strong enough headache, and she didn’t need it to grow into a damn migraine.

Blinking rapidly at her, Arthur nearly crashed down against the sink. “Y-you, you mean it??” Clapping into the water, his energetic motions caused the bubbles and soap to fly upwards.

Ducking out of the way, Selina hissed softly, “Yes!! I mean it! Just calm down!!”

Shrieking in pleasure and glee, Arthur cried, “You promise me??”

“Yes!! I promise!!!” _Anything_ to keep him quiet, anything!!

Nudging her softly, Arthur mimicked her previous move by placing his sharp chin on her shoulder, now. Though she wanted to pull away from it in disgust, Selina knew it would make her plan crumble apart. She held it together well, allowing him to hang there on her shoulder for a moment while he giggled in glee.

“I c-can’t wait!” Arthur sang out in vivacity before he leapt back to his work. “You just made me one of the happiest men in the world, Selina Kyle!!”

Watching him dance about to a tune only he was able to hear, a flippant Selina stood back and only wondered how long it would take before her ‘promise’ to him came back to haunt her.

Not too long, she bet.


	12. If Only They Knew

Anything Selina wanted to do, any journey or plan she wished to embark on, she quickly learned that it had to go through Dr. Crane, first. The insufferable man kept an eye on her since allowing her to work next to Arthur whenever possible, but it all came with a price attached to it. Selina had to report each and everything, including the times she had her tape recorder with herself. Any interaction, any conversation, all of it had to be reported and jotted down for Dr. Crane’s review and personal analysis.

Selina didn’t care about that little detail at first. If all this was going to bring her closer to freedom, then she was willing to suffer through it. But she really began to wonder what had possessed her to make a promise to Arthur Fleck when she didn’t wish to keep it. The older male had a pretty darn good memory when it came to these matters, and doggedly, he pursued her and held her to her promise until she yielded.

She made the trip to his room on Saturday, which was rather unusual. Perhaps she wanted it to be casual. She honestly didn’t know for sure, but she’d been permitted to wear a black spaghetti strap top with dark jeans that were torn and ripped by her own hand many years ago for style and ‘fashion’. Her dark sneakers snuck around on the seventh level while a greater many of the patients were either in the pool, out in the gardens and yards, or engaging in other activities to take a break during the weekend.

As she should’ve been doing, but she didn’t want to get in trouble for breaking her damn promise.

Huffing and puffing dramatically, she’d been assisted into his room thanks to the same large, mesquin guard as last time. Nothing new about that, and there was nothing new going on inside Arthur’s room once she was inside. It was early in the afternoon, however, which only added to more bright sunlight streaming liberally into the room enough to give it a more ‘natural’ mood and tone.

Everything was still in shambles, to say the least. Arthur’s shoes-two pairs-sat messily right at the head of his bed on the floor. The laces had been stretched out, and Selina frowned at them. A lot of old, dirty clothes had been shoved and tossed beneath Arthur’s bed, while his closet space held a lot of plastic garbage bags tied up inside. Possibly more clothes, Selina thought.

The same plastic chairs and table sat close to the window, and Arthur stood waiting for her. Little clear bowls containing ice cream were neatly set up on the surface of the table, while everything else in the room appeared as though Arthur had just recently stuffed things away at the very last minute knowing he was to have ‘company’ over. An almost youthful, innocent grace flowed about the room, and Selina didn’t know what to do with it.

Feeling a tad under-dressed when she found Arthur to be wearing a black, long sleeved shirt and loose black pants, she mentally cursed herself for revealing far too much in the way of skin. To make matter worse, Arthur’s mordacious ‘pornography model’ calendar must’ve either fallen off the hook in the wall holding it in place, or had otherwise been disturbed. It’d been incorrectly set back to the month of May, and the model posing there was in an even lewder and more wanton position than her predecessor. This model had short black hair and more of a ‘gothic’ style to her makeup. A black crotchless panty barely hung onto her thick hips, and she was sucking on a finger while with her left hand, she was tugging on an erect, pierced nipple. The right hand was busy down her panties, obviously aimed for a spot Selina didn’t even want to think about right now.

Looking at the walls, Selina saw the same clown populating majority of the pages, but for the most part, he seemed…happy…he was dancing and laughing, many big, capital repetitions of ‘HAHAHA’ written in speech bubbles around his head while he danced beneath the big, round yellow sun.

At least that part of things seemed pleasant, though the calendar still terrified and disgusted her. When she stood before Arthur, he blushed and hung his head down. Gesturing at the ice cream, he admitted timorously, “I didn’t think you’d show up.”

While he began quaking oddly, Selina coldly drawled, “I’m a woman of her word, Fleck. If I say I’ll keep my promises, I usually do.”

Apprehensively, Arthur nodded and then ran a hand through his dark hair. As he stood there strangely before her, Selina turned back to his windowsill. She gasped when she located the little abditive Venus Fly Trap Dr. Pamela Isley had delivered to Arthur’s room not too long ago. It was in very good condition as it sat there close to their table while facing the barred window.

Without thinking, she garbled out softly, “Dr. Isley’s plant…you’re taking care of it…” For some reason, she’d expected him to toss it out or probably destroy it, but there it stood on the windowsill looking livelier than ever.

Nodding while never removing his eyes from her form, Arthur commented, “Ivy’s plant is a good friend to me! It keeps me company while I draw!”

As soon as she heard the odd twist of a name, trepidation took over Selina’s limbs. They stiffened like stone, but she managed to whisper, “Ivy??? Who’s Ivy??” That sounded…awfully strange, to hear Arthur speak of Dr. Pamela Isley as Ivy…were they close??

….

Why did she care?!?!

Noticing her conflicting expression, a mildly perplexed Arthur supplied swiftly, “I just shortened her name a bit, and Ivy sounds a lot like Isley if you say it fast.”

Muttering under her breath, Selina commented, “Plus, her attitude’s as nasty and poisonous as poison ivy…” That connection had sprung out of thin air, and while she’d tried making it so that only she herself could hear it, that wasn’t the case. It hit Arthur’s ears, and he giggled immediately.

Pointing at the Venus Fly Trap, he coughed, “Poison Ivy??” A few more forced giggles came through, his face turning redder and redder. “P-poison…Ivyyyy!! HAHAHAHA!!!” Clutching at his throat again, his eyes bulged, and his throat expanded. Veins prominent, his facial expression changed from in the throes of enjoyment and laughter to a dynamic of pain, anguish, and terror. He looked like he was going to choke to death…

Not wanting him to get lost in his world colored and blackened by suffering, Selina dashed ahead to help him in the same way she had last time when this had happened. Wrapping an arm around the back of his neck, she gently started massaging him from the top of his spinal cord all the way down to his lower back.

Sniffling, Arthur struggled to catch his breath, but it seemed like his insane, uncontrollable laughter had to run its natural course somehow.

“AHAHAHAHA!! AHAHAHA!! HAHAHA!!!”

He doubled down while holding his stomach, first, but when Selina pressed herself closer to him, his right hand latched onto her arm tightly. She winced for a moment when he made physical contact, but she didn’t have the heart to push him away from herself. Not when he was stuck in such a state.

Slowly patting him on the back, she cooed in a supportive, comforting voice, “It’s going to be okay, Fleck…just breathe if you can, breathe deeply, breathe slowly…come on…”

Twitching for a moment, tears streamed freely from the wrinkled corners of his eyes as they strained harder, and he let out another minute of powerful laughter and choking sounds before he rubbed her arm in the same way she was currently rubbing his back.

Once he’d ceased laughing and trembling, he wiped his eyes, his lips, and then released her arm with his other hand. Knees caving in for a moment, he missed Selina’s concerned eyes before they turned cold and dark. Though he didn’t shy away from her glare, he softly mumbled, “Th-thank you…you did it a-again, Selina…” Wiping his eyes, he elucidated pleasantly, “I knew you were nice.”

Not wanting to hear more of it, Selina stared at the melted ice cream and huffed. “Well, whatever,” she kicked up her dramatic flair moodily like a teenager, “our ice cream’s water, now, so is there anything else you want to do that _doesn’t_ involve looking at half-nude bimbos?”

His eyes widened at her ruthlessness, and Arthur just froze. Yes, Selina knew she was overstepping her bounds and being quite brazen and confident in areas that she had no place in. Technically, she wasn’t minding her own damn business, and she knew he had every right to tell her to piss off with her assumptions and accusations. But she couldn’t help it. As a woman who avoided obduracy wherever she could, Selina often found herself in conflict repeatedly, especially after all the long years of abuse she’d seen her friend Holly suffering through at the hands of certain boyfriends. The mistreatment of women at the hands of some men served as impetus enough to make Selina feel sick, and she hated them all for it.

Nothing was working and going well for her, and she felt her senses and emotions heightened to an extreme. Anger serving as her momentum, she drove her irritation deeply through her voice as she hissed thinly, “Why do you even have things like this in your room for??”

Jaw quivering, Arthur coughed again, but this time, it was a means to achieving a level of calm and tranquility. He seemed to want nothing more than to break away from this absurdity, but it wasn’t plausible as long as Selina didn’t want it to be. Standing firmly, she planted her hands on her hips and glared away at the calendar.

“Yeah, I expected a lot of teenage boys to have stuff like this around,” she began stridently, “but you know, for someone of _your_ age, it’s unseemly.”

This objurgated sentence seemed to drive Arthur deeper into mortification. Warily, he avoided her scrutinizing, judgmental eyes, looking over at everything else in the room save for Selina. “I…umm…those are j-just—”

Cutting him off to save him the trouble of hurting himself emotionally, Selina merely slapped him on the back lightly. “Congratulations, you’re officially a perv.”

As he laughed awkwardly, Selina bent to inspect the ice cream. Lips pulling back in mild disgust, she sighed, “Shit, can’t have that, now.” Spinning around, she eyed Arthur’s dark hair and hummed. “Hmm, oh well…” Eyes sparkling with renewed interest the longer she investigated his hair color, Selina was bold enough to eventually stand up on her toes, even though Arthur was actually only an inch taller than she was.

She hadn’t noticed the minor height difference before when she’d been so angry with him that she’d attacked him, but he was marginally taller, and she found she didn’t mind. Plucking and toying with a few of his dark stands, an amused giggle escaped her, enabling Selina to feel a tad laid back and younger in her attitude and approach.

“Hey!” she exclaimed playfully, “what’s with your hair color, anyway?” She knew it’d been colored at least a shade darker than his natural color, and she wished to know the reasoning behind it.

Smiling softly at her line of inquiry, Arthur replied smoothly while his eyebrows rose up and down just as playfully as the way her fingers flew up and down his hair from root to tip. “It wasn’t really my idea! The nurses said it would look better for the media!”

Frowning, Selina gasped, “What the hell does that mean?”

Seemingly a tad reluctant to be forthcoming, Arthur held back, but when Selina’s fingers swept through his hair in a particular way, he closed his eyes and gave in to her touches. Swallowing, he softly disclosed, “Th-they said that since I was e-evil and dark, it would match if I just c-colored my hair th-that way…”

Black heart, black soul, blackness shrouding him?? _That_ was the point the media wanted to depict so as to drag Arthur Fleck’s name and reputation through the mud?? It just wasn’t fair, and Selina wasn’t chuffed at all after hearing this confession.

Lowering her hand, she huffed, “That’s dumb. I think that you’re not at all that bad, you know?” When she made to completely remove her hand from his hair, Arthur turned about and gripped her hand.

“No! Please!” he begged and pleaded weakly, “d-don’t stop doing that…”

Cocking her head inquisitively at him, she inquired shyly, “What? You actually liked that??”

“Mhm.”

Snorting in amusement and not at all in a cruel, unfriendly way, Selina ran her fingers through Arthur’s hair again. Her short fingernails lightly and gently scraped along the skin of his warm scalp. His heat seeped into her own, and she could’ve sworn she felt little electric shocks running from the tips of her little fingers through her arms. It felt delicious and liberating, and she had no idea how that could be.

Closing his eyes and leaning back into her touch, Arthur sighed in pure delight. Observing his facial expressions, Selina softly chuckled before withdrawing her fingers. Giving him a small nudge, she guided him towards the table. “That’s enough of that, silly,” offering him a most polite smile, she vowed, “I’ll do that again for you some time, though, but for now, let’s just enjoy your sugary water, okay?”

Emitting a shocked gasp, Arthur forgot about the head rub, and he loomed over the melted ice cream. “I’m so sorry!” he crowed pitifully, eyebrows knotted in sheer remorse as he paced about between their seats. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, Selina!”

Laughing it off, she made to stand next to him. Peeking at his cheek once, she was more than thrilled to note that her scratch marks had practically healed all the way, and his skin looked vastly improved by default.

“It’s okay, Arthur, let’s just enjoy each other’s company for now, yeah?”

She never knew why, but for some unknown reason, she was sincerely looking forward to just speaking with him, spending time with him, and lazing about the rest of the afternoon in his room.

Selina actually didn’t want to leave, either.

(***’’***”)

As time went on, over and over, they met. During the day, in the afternoon, and sometimes in the late evening, they would have supper, they would chat, and they would share funny jokes. Days bled into weeks, and the last week of July slowly was creeping up on them. They’d grown quite close, and so much that Arthur opened up and started ‘changing’ in ways that became evident to Selina.

Without her having to ask him or mention a word to him, Arthur went about for pursuing detente with Selina by obeying her words and wishes. He took down the pornographic calendar, burning it and then tossing the ashes into the trash. Though his clown drawings and art remained, he made sure to always neatly clean and put things away whenever she visited him. Why, he even smoked less around her, almost to the point where Selina strongly felt he would be able to quit some time.

Things were going quite well. They had some sort of an understanding that was good enough for the two of them alone, and they communicated through small glances, little chuckles, gentle touches, long conversation over meals, and sometimes, they never had to say a word to each other. It was all still quite meaningful for them both.

Arthur would sometimes lie on his bed, head in Selina’s lap perfectly fitting. The young woman would permit that, sitting comfortably while her hands and fingers played with Arthur’s dark hair. Sometimes, they would sit that way for hours, not once even uttering a syllable to one another. It was the most beautiful way they’d connected, and they knew how to appreciate it.

Arthur eventually revealed to Selina that he’d been keeping a joke book of sorts. The black book with old bindings that looked like it would fall apart any moment was all he had with himself, and now, he wished to share it with someone else. His jokes were supposedly written and composed by himself, and they were rather…dark, to say the least.

Selina listened to them all, seated one warm, lazy Sunday afternoon in Arthur’s room. Lying flatly on his back, his head was again in her lap, and he held the book open before himself.

“I’ve got another one!” Holding up a finger, he read out loud, “Where does a girl with one leg work?”

Rolling her eyes, Selina sighed weakly, “No clue.”

Giggling evilly, Arthur announced, “IHOP!!!”

“Ugh, that was plain evil, Arthur!!” Tugging on his hair gently in a light warning due to his gaucherie, she encouraged, “Tell me another, but it can’t be mean, alright?”

Nodding quickly, Arthur conceded, “You’re right, I’m sorry.” Eyes searching and scanning from left to right, he paused before gasping, “Alright! Found one!”

She grinned in delight. “Go for it.”

“Today was a terrible day. My ex got hit by a bus, and I lost my job as a bus driver!” Rolling around on the cot, he threw his head back and laughed like there was no tomorrow. As grand as it was to witness and hear his gaudiloquent words, she didn’t like the darker humor.

Selina only sighed in plain exhaustion. “Arthur, do you want me to stop playing with your hair?” Winking at him, she added mischievously, “I can leave, you know…”

Shifting her hips up, she nearly bucked his head off her lap, when he squealed and held onto her thigh in desperation. “N-no!!! I’ll behave!! I’ll be good, now!!”

“You promise?”

“Please!!”

Chuckling, she acquiesced quickly and settled back. “Okay, but you can’t tell bad jokes, alright?”

Much like a young, lusory child, he held up a hand and formed a thumbs-up for her. “Got it!!”

Listening once again, Selina’s fingers went back to softly gliding along Arthur’s clean, dark hair. She found that as she basked in the sun, she felt both the external warmth and internal one brewing within herself each time the soft texture of his silky-smooth hair sat between her fingers. She inhaled a bit strongly, scenting an intriguing odor that could’ve been either peppermint, or chocolate…she couldn’t tell.

Humming while he crossed his stretched-out feet towards the end of the cot, Arthur swished and swayed his legs in amusement while he faintly giggled to himself. After a moment, he selected the joke he wanted, and he cleared his throat. “Okay, you’ll—hahaa!! Sorry,” covering his mouth, he shook his head once firmly, as though trying to ‘snap’ and shake himself out of it.

Trying once again, he announced, “You’re gonna like this one!!”

Selina only smiled in silence.

“When I worked as a road sign designer, someone began stealing the signs I’d post!! I started suspecting myself of doing it, and so did my friends and co-workers!! Haha!!” Pausing, he checked to see whether Selina was listening, and when she smirked at him and nodded, he continued. “P-people suspected it was me who was stealing, and when I got h-home, all the signs w-were there!!”

Upon finishing, Arthur rolled around again while pounding a fist against the frame of the bed. “HAHAHAHA!!! Ooohhoooo!!! HAHAHAA!!!”

Selina soon found herself laughing, but it wasn’t at all for the sake of putting on a show. Arthur’s laughter was contagiously affecting her and growing on her; she couldn’t help but laugh almost as loudly as he had.

Wiping his wet eyes, Arthur snorted, and then held out his book again. “One more!!”

“Sure,” Selina giggled, trying to calm herself down so she could get back to stroking and caressing his hair.

Leaning into her touch, Arthur crowed facetiously, “Why do bicycles fall over?”

Leaving room for her to guess, he waited and snickered impishly behind the cover of his little book.

“Hmm,” staring at the ceiling, Selina finally gave up after a few minutes of racking her brains around it. “No clue!! Tell me!!”

Glad to do so, Arthur answered with joy, “Because th-they’re two-tired!!”

Selina found this one amusing, as well, and she started cackling, much to her dismay. She didn’t want to sound so un-ladylike, but there wasn’t much she could do; she really hadn’t laughed like this in months, if not years.

This was so refreshing…

Flipping to another page in his messy jokebook, Arthur gasped out, “One more?? I swear, this one’s the best!”

Deciding to go with it now that both their spirits soared, Selina gently brushed his hair back. “Alright! Last one, though!!”

Eyes almost closing as he surrendered to his giggles, Arthur wheezed, “What did one snowman say to the other?”

Genuinely wanting to participate, Selina offered, “Brrr, it’s cold?”

“Teehee!! Nope!!” Biting down on his lower lip, Arthur had to work to stifle his laughter before proudly crying out, “It said: ‘do you smell carrots?’”

“Oooooh, Arthur!!” Throwing her head back, Selina laughed heartily, “You’re so funny!!” Her belly and chest tightened and ached the more she laughed, but she didn’t want to stop. It felt good to laugh this way, and she allowed it to wash over her body until it seriously hurt. Sides aching, she fought to catch her breath, and she gently maneuvered Arthur’s head to shift to the edge of her thigh.

Rolling up, Arthur discarded the joke book onto the mattress, and he knelt before Selina. Expression suddenly both serious and wistful, he gaped at her in awe for many minutes. The way he was studying her made her cease all laughter. Wiping her eyes, she allowed her vision to focus on his visage before she whispered, “What?”

Frowning, the minor wrinkles in Arthur’s forehead deepened, creasing his smooth, clear skin. Eyes shifting down while he got lost in his thoughts, he placed a hand up to his lips as he murmured, “You…you’re one of the only people who’s ever laughed at my jokes…”

Unsure whether this was an offense to him, somehow, someway, Selina cautiously picked her next words. Trying not to sway his opinion one way or another, she tried gently, “That’s…that’s a good thing, right?”

Gripping her knees so tightly that she was certain it would cause them both pain if he kept doing it longer, Selina in turn held as strongly as she could to the bedframe. Their fingers trembled, their knuckles turned ghastly white, and Arthur refused to relinquish his hold.

Eyes turning slightly red, he whispered, “It’s beautiful, Selina…I…I’ve never been…” Struggling for the right words, it appeared he was sampling and going through them, whispering and forming them as his lips moved without much of a sound being created. Every so often, he would pause, scowl down at the bed, and then try something else, miming the sentences and phrases. Eventually, he gave up and let go of Selina’s thigh.

She found she missed the warmth and the gentle pressure of his weight there relaxed firmly over her body. Without even realizing what it was she’d been doing, Selina moved forward and draped a hand over his longer, larger one. Pulling it gently back down onto her thigh where it’d been previously, she looked down at it, and so did Arthur.

Someone gulped audibly too loud and too embarrassingly, but it didn’t matter at this point. Naturally, feelings and sensations took over, and they both succumbed to it. Gradually, their fingers looped and intertwined together in the most rightful, delicious way. The heat they shared was delectable, and they both shyly glanced down at where their hands were joined. Awkwardly meeting each other’s gaze after a few moments, they both flushed deep pink, and a second later, they burst out into pleasant, friendly laughter.

They didn’t even know what they found so amusing, but the sounds of their own laughter bouncing off the walls and ceiling was charming enough. It was satisfying, joyful, moving, and thrilling.

Neither Selina nor Arthur understood what inspired it and what kept it going, but rather than trying to understand, they just let it happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Selina and Arthur are falling in love!!!!😰💞🌺🌸


	13. Getting to Know You

It didn’t matter if they were physically apart; Arthur and Selina still found a way to contact each other. They both remained persistent in their communication, always finding new methods and techniques meant to surprise one another in the most delightful ways. Arthur especially went out of his way to do majority of the outreach. During group therapy, he would try to sneak in small, recondite glances and flirtatiously charged looks at Selina. The young woman found herself returning the gestures, playfully winking at him when Dr. Crane was far too busy with looking down at his notes, writing, or scolding another patient. That was when they’d timed it well to stare into each other’s eyes for a moment, and then Arthur usually was the one to pull a silly face at random. Selina was absolutely baffled and mesmerized with how he could contort his face into looking goofy, pained, angry, sad, and overjoyed, but he managed it. Many times, he would even mimic Dr. Crane as he spoke, his lips flying and working in perfect synchronization with how the bland psychiatrist’s would.

Selina tried to stifle her laughter before returning one of her own goofy faces to him, and Arthur would laugh along with her at the top of his glee. They would always quickly cut it out and stop when Dr. Crane paused in his ‘speech’, and they would pretend to be listening, looking down at the floor, their feet, or just sitting in silence while nodding in agreement. Clearly suspicious and irate, Dr. Crane would always glower angrily and suspiciously at them, but he was never able to catch them.

Selina had never had so much fun in her life before. Gradually, with the month of July winding down and slowly bleeding into August, Arthur and Selina became craftier with how they enjoyed each other’s company and communicated. Selina was still placed under Dr. Crane’s watch, and while she was consistently required to provide for him any recordings she made of her conversations with Arthur, the young blonde rebelled in whatever way she could by bastardizing the recordings. While hiding them away in her pocket, she would often pause recording at specific moments, sometimes, she wouldn’t record much of anything, and other times, she would flee to a private space such as a bathroom or a locker room, and she would yank out the film of the recording on purpose.

Why should Dr. Jonathan Crane listen to everything??? It’s not like anything of interest would be heard!! She was just speaking to a friend, and she didn’t like that Dr. Crane was trying to nose about in their business. It was infuriating, to say the least, but she managed to forget about it when Arthur came up with fun strategies so they could spend time together while not even being in the same room.

He’d made it a habit to regularly tuck and fold a small handwritten note to her, which he would then cleverly and sneakily place about in random places for her to find. At breakfast, when he would be escorted down the tables in the cafeteria by guards, he would pause, pretend to cough or sneeze, and then drop the paper down by Selina’s ankles. She would pick it up and only read it when she found time alone. Of course, she also reciprocated. When walking down the halls, she made sure to linger by the stairwells or elevators on the days she knew he had one-on-one sessions with the less than rarefied Dr. Crane. Lingering in the shadows and blending in with the walls and darkness perfectly, Selina would wait until the exact moment when Arthur had been led out of his room. Whenever an orderly or nurse spotted her and frowned, she would pretend to be tying her shoes or fixing the hem of her pants. The chicanery and esoteric subterfuge were well executed. She dropped her returned letter close by and would trap it under her shoe if Arthur wasn’t allowed outside. When no guards were watching or were around, Selina slowly slid the note beneath Arthur’s door.

Ready as always, he would snatch it right up, snickering and then cooing in fascination and admiration while he accepted it. Sometimes, Selina would wait on the other side of the door until Arthur had finished reading her note. Usually, he would slide back beneath the door his reply immediately, and as soon as he finished, he would stand and face her through the glass insert. Many long moments were spent that way with them both gazing fondly right into each other’s eyes, with not even the glass barrier disparaging them. Her fingers were small and thin, and she turned and wedged them as best as she could up to the second knuckle in the holes. Ever so eager and happy to reciprocate the gesture, Arthur’s fingers gently slid along hers. Electricity practically buzzed and burst around them each time they touched, but they accepted it with short bursts of laughter and sighs.

Things for Selina dynamically changed. Her mood was uplifted, and her attitude in life brightened dramatically. Even the twins and Sharlet caught on to the shift in her demeanor. She would sit back and chat with them more, she came to prove she was a strong listener, and she supported them whenever they needed it. Her positive outlook on life shined through so much that majority of the patients wished and desired to be around her. She was a breath of fresh air, and she made more friends among them.

Soon, Selina became a friend to all, and she was a constant ray of bright, warm sunshine to everyone she came across.

Of course, as wonderfully as she’d been doing and feeling, she still felt she was on the receiving end of resentment and mordacious contempt from Carl, as well as Dr. Jonathan Crane. They would ignore her for the most part, and Carl’s coldness displayed towards her especially stung the most. It pulled at Selina’s heart strings and conscience that she’d unfortunately lost a friend. As it were, she wasn’t too fond of losing connections, breaking bonds, and having people displeased or upset with her. Well, it couldn’t be helped, she supposed. In her heart, she still felt Carl was a good man, and she trusted him regardless of their falling out.

…But she couldn’t say the same about Dr. Crane in the slightest. His intrusive fingers and invasive nose seemed to butt into her privacy, and more than previously, he seemed to be doggedly trying to accrue more and more information on whatever happened between Selina and Arthur.

He could try all he wanted, but Selina was becoming increasingly resistant and intolerant of his actions. The more time she spent with Arthur, the less she wanted to say a word to Dr. Crane. Not only was it none of his damn business what they discussed in their own company, but she knew Dr. Crane was only intending to harm and use whatever she said to Arthur against them both. The man had zero good will and intentions for others, and she could sense it a mile away. She didn’t want to work with him any longer, and she found that it didn’t matter what he’d promised her. She would rather remain and spend the rest of her days in Arkham State Hospital at Arthur’s side knowing she had a wonderfully supportive, loyal friend as opposed to selling him out to Dr. Crane. That man was god damn evil and a total menace, not Arthur Fleck.

She’d been wrong all this time. Arthur Fleck wasn’t evil at all; he was misunderstood. Well, it was up to her to understand him, and Selina vowed to do just that for her friend. As far as she was concerned, Arthur wouldn’t be treated any less than what she felt he deserved. She was going to protect and cherish him, and if anyone wished to stand in her way, she was going to make sure they were on the brunt of her powerful wrath.

She held it together decently, remaining steadfastly abstemious and true when Arthur called on her one day in the backyard of the facility. All the patients were out for an hour due to how beautiful the weather was, wandering about while they mussitated to themselves. Fearful that this was the ‘last’ of the great summer weather before autumn eased in, plenty of nurses and austere orderlies walked around with a few jittery patients. Each of them engaged in their own activity to lose track of time, and soon, many people were pleasantly having a good time.

Selina sat near a small wishing well, gathering roscid daisies, an assortment of dandelions, and searching for a four-leaf clover. She’d been arranging the plants decently, when someone lunged at her from behind.

“BOOO!!!”

Flinching for a split second, Selina eyed the shadow of the individual who surprised her, and then someone grunted as they sat next to her on the thick, green grass.

Smirking in much pride over his own course of actions Arthur gently touched Selina’s knee in a mild move of apology. “Hey!!” he greeted with charm, winking at her right after.

Though she’d wanted to scold the reprobate Arthur Fleck for a tiny bit of a childish display, Selina soon got over her anger and giggled. Shoving him lightly, she purred, “Hey you!! What’re you doin’ here, anyway?”

As the clouds breezed by above due to the gentle gusts of the mild wind, small shapes and odd shadows crowded Arthur’s features. Stretching himself out along the warm grass, he leaned his weight back on his elbows as he chuckled. “I’m here to scare you,” he answered obviously, “were you scared?”

Smirking, Selina answered, “Totally was!” The wind picked up a little, and as Selina brushed her wavy hair from her eyes, she noticed Dr. Crane standing by near the wide-open doors leading back inside the hospital. Initially assuming he was standing there idly, Selina frowned and tried ignoring him. But then, he nodded her way, directly looking through her, almost.

Something within burned the moment his eyes pierced through hers…

“Selina?”

Snapping out of her mini reverie when Arthur repeated her name again, Selina only offered him a shy smile. “Hmm? Yes, Arthur?”

Worrying his lower lip between his teeth, he took his time thinking before he leaned closer than ever to her so his mouth softly grazed along the shell of her ear. The moment his warm breath and lips ghosted along her sensitive flesh, Selina turned red in the face and heard her own breath hitching in her throat.

While she didn’t move, Arthur softly spoke, “I want to show you something, Selina…I think you’ll like it.”

Her mind unfortunately wandered into odd territory, and she didn’t like it. Selina knew very well where her inclinations and proclivities lay. As far as science and biology was concerned, she was a grown woman with her own thoughts and feelings. Right now, the words he was whispering, how he was hotly and sweetly whispering them, and what they could’ve implied did wonders to her imagination.

Mentally, she chastised herself. _‘Get a damn grip, Selina!! He’s your friend!! FRIEND!! Calm down already!!’_

Trying to obey her own wishes, she coughed as she drew away from him. Forcing her mind to climb out of the gutter, she gently punched him in the shoulder as she whispered back, “Alright, but you can’t go on whispering like this; it’s drawing too much attention!!”

Playing along, Arthur draped a hand over his forehead, pantomiming someone having a heart attack. Falling into the luscious grass, he wheezed and choked, clutching at his heart the entire time. “The…s-scandalous Selina…Kyle!!” lightly, he joked while his eyes widened, “…she’s been…c-caught…heeeeelp!!”

Giving in for a moment, Selina decided to surrender herself to a childish, innocent imaginative display. “Oh yes, I feel faint!” she acted out as well as Arthur had, swaying beneath the searing heat of the sun. “What will the others say??? What will people of Gotham do??”

Holding up a finger, Arthur commented, “There…is…a…way you can…save meeee…”

“What’s that??”

He winked again at her and slowly sat up. “Just meet me in my room tonight after midnight, and you’ll see!!”

It sounded promising, and before Dr. Crane could glare over at them some more, Selina stood and brushed her jeans free of any grass and soil. “It’s a deal, Arthur,” she promised sincerely, nodding quickly at him before starting to walk backwards.

Noticing it, Arthur raised a curious brow as he called out, “What’re you walking like that for?”

Shrugging, she remained vigilant on suppressing her true answer. “My secret!!!”

Rushing off back inside the hospital, she thought only to herself, _‘It was just a way for me to look at you longer, Arthur.’_

(***’’***”)

Midnight couldn’t arrive soon enough. Agitated and perplexed, Selina tried not to remain too nervous when she ventured out of her room and snuck by night guards and staff up to Arthur’s room. It was a calm, peaceful night, shockingly. Even the most restless patients were snoring and sleeping deeply, not at all akin to how they often behaved whenever she traveled along the dark, winding halls.

The lull of the old building wasn’t enough to stop her, and Selina skipped along the halls, heart soaring and racing. She felt as light and as graceful as a Renaissance painting, and internally, she felt so revitalized. Had visiting Arthur Fleck always been so invigorating?? She truthfully couldn’t pinpoint if it had always been this way, or where these feelings even stemmed from. She just wanted to _feel_ …feeling things as they were was the best experience, and it was all she cared about for the time being.

She stood at his door, and puckishly, she dragged her slightly long fingernails over the glass insert. It made tiny ‘squeaking’ noises, and she chuckled when Arthur’s face appeared right before hers in no time.

Smiling from ear to ear, Arthur quickly unlocked the door by picking at it with a few nails he’d obviously taken from his walls.

Clever man.

The door clicked open, and Arthur pressed his index finger to his lips. “Shhh!” Eyes shining brightly, he waved her inside swiftly. Selina followed, and the moment she closed the door behind herself and paused in the dim lights, she heard a tiny ‘meow’.

….

“Arthur? What the—”

The man got to his knees abruptly, and he peered under his desk. It looked odd initially, and then Arthur made it weirder by clicking his tongue against his teeth. Smacking his lips together, next, he made tiny kissing noises while staring beneath the desk the entire time.

Selina shook her head at him. “Arthur, come on, this isn’t funny!”

“Shhh,” he cooed at her, and then reached under his desk, “come on, little guy, come here!!”

Little guy??? Who was here?

Bending to the will and pull of her curiosity, Selina burned and itched to know what Arthur was keeping down beneath his desk. As she crouched, she heard another high-pitched meow, followed by a tiny growl. Focusing her eyes to adjust to the darkness there, among the shadows, Selina gasped when she saw the glow of two yellow eyes.

A kitten!!!

“Oh my god, Arthur!” she squealed, “where did you find a kitten?!?”

Reaching forth when the tiny animal refused to come out, Arthur placed a few scraps of meat down before the kitten’s pink nose. The wet appendage sniffed at it, and then a small, rough tongue dabbed out and swiped the bit of food away clean off the floor.

“I found him in the gardens the other day! Poor thing nearly fell into the well, and I saved him!!” Proudly, Arthur placed more food down on the dirty floor, but the kitten gave out a warning hiss instead.

Selina placed a hand over her friend’s shoulders. “Let’s move away a bit! I think we’re scaring our furry friend.”

Agreeing, Arthur crawled back, and Selina sat next to him cross-legged on the floor. For many long minutes, they heard shuffling, more meowing, and then those curious eyes gleamed forth from beneath the desk. The glimmer in the kitten’s large eyes was too cute for words, and Selina pressed a hand down on Arthur’s arm as she waited for the kitten to venture out. It eventually did, possibly wanting more food. Cautiously, one black paw inched towards them, and then pointy, white-tipped ears revealed themselves. Sleekly, the slender kitten poked its head out from under the desk, and it mewled especially at Selina.

Arthur beamed at her, “I think he likes you!!”

As the kitten bounded towards Selina, the young woman held out her hands, and the feline bravely stood before her. Bending its head, it sniffed at her open palms. Staring at her once, it then licked her fingers. Selina softly chuckled at the sensation of the sandpaper-like rough tongue caressing her flesh. Ensuring that she didn’t move too suddenly to scare their new friend off, Selina let the kitten make the first moves. It had to be ready to make its own choices, and Selina didn’t even breathe until the kitten shifted its body into a more relaxed position.

It was slowly beginning to trust her! Happy by this recent development, Selina turned and grinned triumphantly at Arthur.

Equally as thrilled, Arthur softly pressed out, “He trusts you!!”

“She,” Selina quickly corrected, “it’s a girl, and don’t ask me how I know!”

The feline soon crawled into Selina’s open lap, nuzzling its head against her thighs. Kneading her flesh, it purred louder and louder, eyes set in half slits as it tried finding a comfortable position to nap in. Locating one after moments of kneading and butting her legs, it curled into a cute black ball of fluff. Its purrs of sheer satisfaction were heartwarming to listen to, and Selina couldn’t get enough of it.

Very carefully, Arthur raised a hand and let it hover over the kitten’s back. “Can I…can I pet her?”

Selina nodded, “Of course! She’s so warm!”

Placing his hand very gently on the kitten, Arthur’s eyes blew open wide before the corners of his mouth curved up. “She’s so soft, too!” he exclaimed joyfully, “she’s wonderful, isn’t she?”

Observing as Arthur’s hand moved almost gracefully up and down the kitten’s curvy spine, Selina’s eyes gleamed with rapture. It all radiated for Arthur; his kindness and gentleness towards the kitten was extraordinary.

Watching the small animal’s back rising and falling while it slept, Arthur whispered softly, “You should name her!!”

“Hmm, me?” Selina hadn’t thought about it much, and she was only drawing blanks at the moment. “Oh, I don’t know about that, Arthur…you found her, so maybe you can name her?”

Shoulders flying up in a mild shrug, Arthur guffawed, “I…I was just thinking of calling her ‘Black’, because she’s black!” Shaking his head in despair, his shoulders fell, and he frowned at his own words. “That’s stupid, isn’t it?”

Quickly, Selina replied, “I don’t think it’s stupid! It’s beautiful, Arthur!”

Not even hesitating, the older male calmly spoke out, “I think _you’re_ beautiful, Selina.”

Her heart dove and leapt in her chest, and she gasped, “You…you think I’m—”

“I do.”

Radiance moved back and forth between them both, and then lightning flashed all over and around them. Something shone in Arthur’s eyes, and whatever it was, Selina felt it as much as she felt a cold breeze on the back of her neck, or a warm, welcoming feeling that sliding into a bathtub brought onto her aching flesh. Her throat tightened, and Arthur couldn’t even blink or take his eyes off her. All the noises in the room greatly diminished and sounded muffled, even the feline’s gentle purring and snoring.

A warm hand shifted from the kitten’s body over to Selina’s hand. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, their fingers found solace and comfort intertwining. Hooked on the sweet, intoxicating sensation of warm fingers woven together, Selina and Arthur ceased trembling. His dark eyes fell upon her lips, and she too gazed down from his eyes, past his cheeks, all the way to his mouth. She eyed the light stubble that was starting to peer up beneath the surface of his skin, and it reminded her of how much she’d missed understanding that he was a man.

She wanted to touch that coarse, dark hair, so she did. Bravely, Selina guided a free hand that wasn’t draped over her furry friend to tenderly graze along Arthur’s cheek. She discovered that as she caressed his face, it wasn’t all that rough to the touch. He was just a man sitting there before her, and she didn’t understand how it came to be in the first place that this reality slipped her mind.

Closing her eyes, she relished in their closeness, while Arthur grew emboldened by her touching his cheek. Resting his warm forehead over hers, the firm bone of his brow ridge prodded against her wavy bangs, and she let out a small sigh. It was that soft sigh which made Arthur gently wind a free hand around the back of her neck, and he pulled Selina close.

The rest came completely naturally to them both. Lips met lips in a soft, chaste peck once, and then Arthur pulled back to check whether that was alright for her. When Selina’s blue depths bore into his own, a smile elegantly formed along her lips, and Arthur’s soon came thereafter. Everything they experienced and presented together was contagious and had to be shared. Basking in each other’s energy and happiness, they were both ravenous and elated beyond comprehension.

The furry kitten in Selina’s lap slept on, and once more, Arthur and Selina joyously shared a soft kiss, this one lasting a few seconds longer than the previous one.

Selina swore she’d never been happier than she currently was at this very moment.

(***’’***”)

Selina slipped out of Arthur’s room half an hour following their tender embrace and sweet kiss. Heart aflame with passion she hadn’t experienced before in her young life, the young woman left Black with Arthur, and reluctantly made the trip back to her own room. She truthfully hated this; she hated leaving Arthur. Worries and fears of the next morning thrummed deeply in her chest and expanded like heart burn, but she didn’t obsess over it. As it were, she knew there was always tomorrow, and she was looking forward to spending more time with Black and Arthur…her new family unit…

Lost in her thoughts and musings, Selina missed an arm reaching out for her from the blanket of darkness surrounding the hall leading up to her room. At once, two hands grasped her, and a third clamped over her mouth. Her cries of shock were muffled, and before she knew it, she was being forcefully dragged away from her room. The dark halls spun around her, and while Selina forced herself not to panic, she noticed the people taking her away moving down a level of the hospital.

She wasn’t sure where they were planning on taking, her, and though she initially kicked up a fit, someone whispered into her ear, “Don’t fight.”

It was a man, and Selina supposed he was a guard. Relaxing as much as she could, all things considered, Selina counted down the seconds before she felt searing pain coursing through her right shoulder. Blinking back tears, it took her brain a few moments before alerting her to the fact that one of the guards had violently rammed her into a door. That same door swung open, and Selina was thrown mercilessly into a dark room.

Half a second later, the lights clicked on.

Fighting off the large hand draped over her mouth, Selina swallowed fresh air while her lungs thanked her for it. Eyes and shoulder burning, she blinked rapidly and spun back to scowl ferociously at the guards who’d tossed her into an abditive, empty storage room. A few bits of old furniture had been stacked throughout the room, making it quite cramped. Thankfully, Selina was far too angry to be feeling claustrophobic. Once the irate young woman had her fill of dishing out murderous glares at the guards, she spun around on her heel to face the person who’d arranged for all this in the first place.

Standing a few inches away from her happened to be Dr. Jonathan Crane. Much to her impotence and luck. The ornery man threw her a fresh round of dirty looks before he growled, “Hello, Miss Kyle. Did you enjoy your nightly stroll, then?” Much ice flowed from his mouth and froze up the corners of the room, causing Selina to shiver.

The errant young woman seethed for a moment before rebuking firmly, “That’s none of your damn business, Doctor.”

Standing back, he gathered his arms over his chest before scoffing at her. She knew he was already penalizing her as much as he could, but she didn’t need the damn castigation. He could stand there and stew all night if he pleased; she didn’t care much at all. He’d already proven to be a damn nuisance and thorn in her side plenty of times.

Perhaps intending to be both intimidating and disciplined in his mannerisms, Dr. Crane spoke out condescendingly, “It _is_ my damn business, Miss Kyle…you’re consorting with a patient of mine, are you forgetting that?”

Nervously, Selina’s eyes darted about the room. Just how much did Dr. Crane already know?? The last time she’d checked, she’d ceased recording her time spent with Arthur! Unless this man had eyes and ears within Arthur’s room, there was just no way he had known about the true nature of their relationship, and just how awfully close they’d become.

…She wanted to call his bluff. He was only using his power to frighten and intimidate her.

“You can’t bully me anymore, Dr. Crane,” she snarled veraciously, “and you know what? I’m tired of you. Your power-trip is astounding, and I’m not putting up with it anymore.”

Behind her, the guards who’d accosted her snickered in amusement, almost as if spectating and placing their bets on who would outsmart who, and who would be the ultimate winner in this battle of wits.

Glaring heatedly at them for a moment, Dr. Crane then took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his slightly pink nose. “I don’t care about your jejune crying and moping, you stupid girl,” came his barbed insult, “I know you haven’t been keeping up with your end of our bargain, but rather than punish you as I should be, I have my ways of forgiving you…”

Selina had wanted to spit out acerbically that she didn’t need his damn forgiveness, when the guards behind her swayed closer. Feeling trapped and boxed in, Selina kept her mouth shut. A wise move.

Dr. Crane nodded at her, and then placed his glasses back onto his nose. “Miss Kyle, I promise I’ll do right by you and ignore this entire ordeal as long as you are forthcoming with me and tell me why Arthur Fleck believes he is still Thomas Wayne’s son.”

….

Hearing such a thing was jarring. The unruly young woman didn’t know how to react, so she stood there gaping mutely.

Nodding at her, Dr. Crane turned midway, and then out of nowhere, he gripped a small, grey rock. Flinging it as far and as hard as he could, he aimed it for one of his guards, and it bashed the man across the cheek. He emitted a strained yelp before staggering and nearly knocking into his shocked companion. Before either of them had time to recover, Dr. Crane pointed at the door.

“Out. Both of you. Now!!”

Not wanting to argue and incur his hellish wrath, the men obediently fled from the room and slammed the door behind themselves. Left alone now with the beast of a man she despised more than anything else in the entire world, Selina hissed in a warning for him to stay away.

Ignoring it, Dr. Crane ran a hand through his brunette hair while muttering, “He’s written about Thomas Wayne in his journal, and I’d like to know just how mad and delusional he really is.”

Jaw dropping in shock, Selina soon picked herself up before crying out despondently, “You went through his personal belongings?!! Why?!?” Didn’t this man who was supposedly a professional and a therapist have any decency?? What of his moral and ethical compass?!?

Waving her off dismissively, an uncaring Dr. Crane sighed, “I did what I had to do when you decided to take shortcuts and play around with Mr. Fleck instead of carrying out your job as I asked you, so naturally, yes, I went through his personal items whenever he was out with you.”

The opportunist…the leech…the monster!!!

Raising her voice as her anger soared over and above her head, Selina cried vehemently, “You piece of shit!! How could you—” At once, the miserable Dr. Crane flung himself at her, effectively interrupting Selina’s scornful screaming.

His hand wove its way around her thin, elongated neck, slowly squeezing. Ramming her against a wall, he pinned her there beneath the weight of his taller, broader frame, and he sneered viciously down into her eyes. Forcing her head back, he pushed her into the wall as much as he could, practically crushing her. Tears leaked out of her eyes the more he squeezed, but he didn’t seem to want to stop. His grip tightened, and Selina could’ve sworn he was going to crush and mash her windpipe.

Clawing at his arms, she was weaker than ever while he stood there and snarled into her ear. Voice barely above that of a dangerous whisper, he rasped, “Shut up. If you value your life, Miss Kyle, then I highly advise you to shut up and listen to me.”

Coughing and sputtering for air, Selina didn’t move as his grip tightened even more. She was positive his hand there on her throat would leave marks the next day, but there was very little she could do as he held her firmly in his grip.

“I’m a man of science, Miss Kyle,” he explained almost rationally and far too calmly for someone who was adamant and set on strangling another person to death. “I believe that once a criminal, always a criminal. As far as I’m concerned, a lot of people out there in Gotham believe that Arthur Fleck had no reason to do the things he did, but I’m no fool…” Eyes searching hers, he practically sighed as he leaned into her smaller frame.

“I bet he knows a lot more about Thomas Wayne than meets the eye, and I’m highly interested in what that is. You see, that’ll help _me_ more than you know!!” Laughing excitedly, he hooted, “Can you imagine how much fame and notoriety will come _my_ way once I become the one who not only understands the enigma that is Joker, but also tied him into the deceased Thomas Wayne’s filthy line of dark secrets?!? The money…the glory, and it is all _mine_.”

So that’s what he’d been after all along…she should’ve seen it coming, but truthfully, Selina had no idea that Arthur considered himself somehow related to the late Thomas Wayne. It didn’t seem plausible, but then again, she knew she hadn’t exactly spent enough time with Arthur to sit down and inquire about his family background. She’d never thought it was her business, but now, it was a requirement. Arthur was in grave danger, and so was she.

She weakly reached up and tugged on Dr. Crane’s suit sleeve while she still had strength left within herself. The noises that escaped her sounded akin to a squeaky toy for a dog, and she winced when Dr. Crane threw his head back and laughed sadistically at her suffering and painful plight.

Releasing his hold slowly on her neck, he drew her back, and then violently threw her across the room. Flying through the air, Selina’s back and shoulders crashed and knocked into desks and chairs, and she slipped between them. Landing painfully on wood and other bits of broken furniture, she felt blood rising up to her mouth in strong flows. Rolling over, she spat the dark, coppery liquid out, but didn’t want to be caught down on the floor in such a vulnerable position for long. She slowly rose to her feet, nearly crumbling down once more. Had the wall behind herself not been there, she would’ve no doubt broke apart.

Straightening his overcoat, Dr. Crane cleared his throat. Eyes shimmering even in such poor lighting, he was a thing of true nightmares as his eyes turned dark and cold behind his glasses. Sauntering up to her, he seemed to be very well aware of the true power he held over Selina, and he puffed out his chest like a true power-hungry monster.

All teeth, he grinned like a shark at her. “It’s better to fear me than to work against me, Miss Kyle,” he wagged his finger before her, almost as though scolding a naughty child. “I’m willing to give you one last chance here, but this is the _only_ one you get.”

Holding her sore, bruised limbs to herself, Selina inched back towards the door, eager to escape right now.

Eyeing the door, Dr. Crane chuckled as he slowly opened it for her. It barely made a sound as it swung open, and ever so sarcastically, Dr. Crane bowed as he extended a hand out into the hall.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Kyle.”

Selina didn’t even know how it came to be that she managed to remain standing up, but she did so. Limping away to her room, she didn’t even have the stomach to reduce herself to tears. She was far too frightened for Arthur, and it kept her awake all night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Selina and Arthur's first kiss!! Too bad this is all going sour reaaaallly quickly thanks to Dr. Crane Dx


	14. Nothing Can Stay

“Selina!! Selina!! Please, open the door!!”

Lifting her head off her pillow was quite physically draining enough, but Selina pulled through as she kept watch on her door. She’d placed a small chair beneath the handle, effectively sealing it off while a disturbed and concerned Sharlet beat herself against the door. In the past twenty minutes, Sharlet had been attempting to enter Selina’s room by force, but to no avail. Selina didn’t want to see anyone, and she’d resigned herself to remaining locked away in her room for the entire morning.

“Go away,” she weakly coughed out, head falling into her pillow once again. She hadn’t even slept an hour last night due to her immense fear and concern for Arthur. Hating herself for being so damn powerless and weak to do anything other than mope in her room, at least she had the minor decency of keeping these issues to herself rather than unloading them all unto Sharlet. The other woman had been through enough suffering; she didn’t need this on top of everything else.

Not one to quit, Sharlet roared on the other side of the thick, heavy door, “Selina!! Stop this!! Just tell me what’s wrong!!”

What was wrong?? Everything. _Everything._ But she couldn’t say that. She didn’t even know where to begin as far as voicing this went. One thing Selina knew for certain however was that if Sharlet pounded away on her door this way for long, attention-unwanted attention-was sure to follow. Fearful of that, Selina groaned as she edged herself off the bed and limped over to the door.

Pressing herself against it, she spat assiduously, “Sharlet!! Please stop!!”

“NO!” the obstinate, abrasive reply hit her in the ears, “I won’t until you open the door!!”

Beyond exhausted to keep on arguing, Selina pushed the chair away from the door handle. Immediately, the door swung open, nearly hitting the blonde in the process. Leaping back in the nick of time, she avoided Sharlet’s angry, inquisitive gaze as she spun herself around with her back facing Sharlet’s frightful eyes.

Breath hitching in her throat, Sharlet croaked, “What the…Selina! What’s happened to you!?”

“N-nothing,” Selina began, but before she could make way for her bed again, Sharlet dashed before her.

Arms jutting out and grabbing Selina by the shoulders, their eyes met, and their noses were suddenly only an inch apart. Sharlet let out a pained cry when she studied the condition her younger friend was in.

“Selina! You have dark circles under your eyes, you haven’t slept at all, and your body…” Pausing, Sharlet’s eyes traced the bruises and marks Dr. Crane’s strong fingers had left in her pale skin. Twirling Selina around by force, Sharlet pulled up her white uniform shirt to expose her back. A bloodcurdling scream escaped the woman’s lips before she was able to contain it.

Shaking her head in horror, Sharlet roared, “Who did this t-to you, Selina?!?”

Glaring away at the floor while the memories still freshly churned about in her mind, Selina rasped brokenly, “Dr. Crane did.”

Immediately, Sharlet seemed to believe her. Draping her arms about Selina, she hushed her softly, and then sat her down on the edge of her bed. Rocking her friend in her arms as gently and supportively as she could, she spoke in hushed tones. “I trust you, Selina, because he’s a nasty man, and I’ve heard many other patients here talking about how he’s mistreated them, too!!” As she rocked Selina a few more seconds in her arms sufficiently like a loving mother comforting her child, she weakly cried, “You should report him, Selina!!”

Breaking away from Sharlet, Selina almost wailed, “What load of good would that do for me, Sharlet?!?” Pointing at herself, she yelled, “L-look at me!! I’m a mess!! No one’s gonna believe me, especially in here where he has so much power and authority!!”

“It doesn’t matter, Selina!” Sharlet was quick to argue back. “If we _all_ stick together and report him, there’s no way he can get away with this!!” Sharlet then wrapped Selina sedulously up in her own bed sheets, rubbing her back gently and making sure to steer clear of the most bruised areas.

Wincing while she put up with the pain shooting throughout her lower and upper back, Selina growled in disdain, “I just c-can’t, Sharlet! Please let it go! I refuse t-to hurt Arthur more than I already have!”

When the words freely slipped past her lips, Sharlet’s hands slowed down. Though she hadn’t ceased massaging and tending to Selina, she frowned in confusion. “Arthur…Joker,” she corrected herself before carrying on, “what does he have to do with this, Selina?”

Licking her cracked lips prior to speaking, Selina gasped when she tasted remnants of dried up blood there. Cursing Dr. Crane for his brute violence, she took a moment to calm down before supplying awkwardly, “It’s…it’s just complicated, Sharlet.”

“Try me,” the other woman encouraged her, keeping Selina’s shaking frame warm as she pulled the sheet tighter around the young blonde.

Acquiescing, Selina disclosed openly, “Dr. Crane’s been forcing me to watch Arthur for weeks now, Sharlet!!” Head hanging low in sorrow, she continued, “He made me record most of our conversations, and he snuck in Arthur’s room and went through his journals!”

Listening intently, Sharlet softly gasped, “Selina, oh my god…”

Moaning out at the height of her grief, Selina felt nothing but disgust with herself as she forced the rest of her ‘summary’ loquaciously out for her friend. “At first, I did whatever he asked, but I found out for myself that you were right…Arthur’s not evil, and he never was a bad man to begin with!! Dr. Crane’s the psycho in this!!” She agnized potently and powerfully, “ _He’s_ the evil bastard!!”

Hushing her softly, Sharlet asked, “Have you stopped working for that monster, now??”

Nodding slowly, Selina replied, “Of course!! I just couldn’t go on like this forever, Sharlet! Arthur’s been so good to me, you know?” Blushing mildly as the memories they created and shared with one another flooded in naturally, she sighed forlornly. “He took in a kitten and fed it, surprising me with it just the other night. Would a beast do such a thing???”

Sharlet shook her head. “We’re more so rancid beasts than he is, and I could tell you two were growing closer and closer. I was so happy for you, Selina…I _still_ am!!”

So was she, but there was a huge, calamitous situation growing on her hands. Shoulders sinking in, she commented tragically, “There’s no way I can win, Sharlet. Dr. Crane’s—”

“Dr. Crane’s full of shit,” Sharlet supplied for her, a confident grin forming along her face until it overpowered anything else.

In awe at the fact that her friend was strikingly self-aware and strong in the middle of a disastrous, ruinous situation, Selina sputtered timorously, “H-how…what sh-should I do??”

Leaning into her, Sharlet exclaimed, “Why, isn’t it obvious, my dear?” Laughing briskly, she answered the rhetorical question. “You need to get the heck outta here _with_ Arthur!!”

Wondering if she was imagining things or somehow dreaming this up, Selina weakly murmured, “Are you serious?!”

“Mhm!” Patting Selina firmly on the back, Sharlet exhaled boldly, “I may be absolutely insane when it comes to other aspects of my life, but I swear, I know my stuff when it comes to this!!” Pointing strongly at the door, she cried potently, “You can’t stay here anymore, Selina, and neither can Arthur. This place will ruin you both, and I don’t want that for you guys.”

Neither did Selina, and she never had; not in a thousand years. Breaking down, she sobbed against Sharlet for a few moments, the tears just flowing freely.

“Shh,” Sharlet comforted her, “it’ll be alright!! We’ve got your back, Selina!!”

Sniffling, Selina dabbed at her sore eyes, and she asked carefully, “We?”

“Sure!” Sharlet expounded intelligently, “I want to help you, and believe me, Larry and Harry can be quite resourceful when it comes to…shall we say, distractions…”

Clutching at her friend in desperation, Selina whispered out her small hope of a plan. “Alright, you can all help. But first things first, Sharlet, I need to get the message out to Arthur without anyone noticing!!” Hoping this would work, Selina instructed patiently and succinctly, “There’s a huge possibility that Dr. Crane has eyes on me, and I can’t take the risk getting Arthur hurt! I need someone who he’s not watching, and someone who can slip by orderlies and guards undetected!!”

Saluting her, Sharlet announced in a sing-song way, “Leave it to me, Selina. We all know our way around Arkham State Hospital a lot better, and we’ll do anything in our power to help you and Arthur!!”

Putting all her trust and faith in her friends, Selina refocused all her energy and hopes on this new plan. With goals renewed and her heart strongly fastened onto an escape with Arthur Fleck, she meekly joked, “I can’t believe I’ll be running away with Joker!! Who’d have thought, right??!”

As she turned away and chuckled to herself in mild amusement, Selina hadn’t been prepared for Sharlet’s right hand to dive forth and snatch her chin. Fingers dipping into her flesh firmer than she’d anticipated, Selina gaped at her friend in awe and astonishment.

A bit of a fiery temper flared and raged on behind Sharlet’s eyes, and at first, Selina assumed she was livid with anger. However, after chuckling in delight, the other woman surprised Selina beyond belief.

“I think you meant to say ‘Arthur’, sweet Selina,” her friend rectified her tiny error. “His name is Arthur Fleck, and he cares for you just as much as you care for him.”

Trusting this fully, Selina wrapped her arms around Sharlet and held onto her dearly. Time was irrelevant as she got lost in their hug. She never wanted for it to end.

(***’’***”)

The plan was already in motion Saturday night. Selina tried acting ‘normal’, but due to her nerves, she was incapable of enjoying supper. She hardly bit into her toasted bun with butter spread over it, even though her nose informed her that it smelled fantastic. Yes, she was positive it tasted brilliant, as well, but her stomach flip-flopping didn’t exactly promise that she would be able to keep any solids down. A nervous Selina Kyle rarely got hungry, and her adrenaline rush was what kept her alert on her toes.

Already having thoroughly explained and outlined the plan to the twins, Selina cut majority of her conversation with everyone else. Just in case Dr. Jonathan Crane’s introspective eyes and ears lurked everywhere, a meditative Selina Kyle played her cards extra close to her chest. She felt confident and relaxed that the twins knew what to do for a diversion, and Sharlet had previously informed her that she would keep other orderlies busy if she had to. Promising Selina that she was quite ‘inventive’ if it came to it, her words warmed the young woman up, and she was able to catch a break after dinner.

Pacing back and forth around the _‘Office of Records’,_ Selina observed Carl going through his files and notes, sighing and mumbling to himself while stewing. As she peered at the ceiling within the old office, she noticed that the water damaged ceiling had gotten worse, so much that the plaster had been worn out and was crumbling apart.

Good.

Someone jogged up to her quickly, and Selina whirled around to face an out of breath Sharlet. “Selina,” she panted while fanning herself with a hand, “the twins are moving up to the seventh floor!! Are you ready??”

Pondering it for a moment, Selina finally answered, “I feel I am.”

Studying her closely, Sharlet inquired, “You’re not taking much with yourself?”

“No, it’ll be faster and cleaner this way,” Selina commented back while spying on Carl’s movements within his office. He wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary, which was a positive thing. As long as he remained clueless to what they were up to, then there was a strong chance this would work beautifully.

Catching on to where she was looking, Sharlet closed the gap between their bodies as she whispered, “Not everyone’s as good of a friend to you as think, you know.”

“I don’t know,” Selina sighed, “I still think he’s a decent guy, personally.”

Whether Sharlet agreed or not was immaterial and still had yet to be seen. Footsteps tapped loudly along the corridor, and as both women turned towards the direction they were coming from, they found Larry running at them. Once he was close enough, he flashed them a thumbs-up.

Nodding, Sharlet muttered, “Looks like Arthur and Harry are on the way! Let’s move!”

Falling in line with Larry, Selina drew herself close to the walls, trying to stay out of view while meetings went on in various rooms on the second and third level of the facility. Having rehearsed their plan a few times over, Selina knew that any minute now, the two men would join them. It took approximately five minutes and twenty-eight seconds to run down from the seventh floor to the second level of the hospital. Wanting to meet them halfway, Selina and Larry crouched and crept along the halls, ensuring that they steered clear of the windows and glass inserts in the doors. Staff members were yapping and participating in mandatory training and education meetings, but only for a limited amount of time.

They had to hurry.

Stopping at a sharp left corner, Selina and Larry hung back against the wall, with Larry being in the lead peeking over.

Nudging him impatiently when he’d remained quiet for longer than she could bear, Selina rasped at his back, “Well?!? What’s going on??!”

“Shh,” Larry hissed, “I think I hear something…”

….

Straining her ears, Selina didn’t hear anything for a while. Feeling as though she was going to explode, she’d almost wanted to growl at Larry to snap out of it, when sure enough, she heard a faint, shaky ‘meow’.

“Black!!”

“What?!?”

Ignoring Larry’s clear confusion, Selina rose to her feet, and she turned the corner. At once, she nearly ran directly into Harry. The odd man frowned at her, and then lurched forward when someone else rammed into his back. Turning around, he growled in a light warning, and then Selina heard another meek meow.

A pair of blue eyes gazed at her, and Selina leapt a mile in the air. “Arthur!!!” she sighed out in rumbustious relief once she caught a bundle he held tightly in his arms. Woven in the center of his thick, grey sweater was Black, and the kitten with the white-tipped ears raised its head and peeked cautiously at her.

Heart thrumming and racing with sheer joy, Selina pushed past Harry and gave Arthur a light hug. Reciprocating for a moment, Arthur quickly pulled away as he asked, “What’re we going to do?? I don’t know if this—”

“It _will_ ,” Selina assured him confidently. She knew she was making up for her own fears and lack of confidence, but it felt good to at least see him smile. That was better than nothing!

Guiding them back down the stairs, Harry pointed towards the ‘ _Office of Records_ ’. Sharlet stood almost halfway inside, and she was already busy with chatting Carl up. He was waving his hands at her, no doubt wanting her to leave, but Sharlet pursued him doggedly.

“There’s our ticket out of here!” Larry spoke out, causing Arthur to frown deeply.

Wistfully, he pondered aloud, “The admin office??” Nose wrinkling, he wondered, “How is that going to get us out?”

Rolling their eyes simultaneously, the twins both stated, “Selina, you tell him.”

Not needing to be encouraged on that, Selina whispered in his ear, “The ceiling, Arthur. After so much rain and water damage, I saw for myself that it’s a possible exit to crawl out of here through the vents!!”

“The vents?!” Arthur reiterated, still concerned and confused, “What do you mean?”

Patiently, Selina went over the method she felt there would be great success in. “The ceiling’s all wet, Arthur, and it’s large enough of a gap for us to slip into the vents and get the hell out of this place.”

Black’s pointy ears perked up, and she let out a series of tiny mewls, as if already on board with this idea. Arthur didn’t look too convinced, and he voiced his concern. “But…up there,” his eyes did the work of glancing up at the ceiling, “what if we get lost?”

Selina didn’t share in his fear. “Don’t worry,” she supplied softly as she fell in line next to him, “I’ve memorized the map and layout of Arkham Hospital, and the vents _will_ lead us right out through the laundry rooms!”

“The chute,” Larry clarified, “that’s the way!”

“Shh!!” Harry hushed them, waving while he stalked on ahead. “Come on, Sharlet’s almost got Carl distracted plenty, and we only have a small window of opportunity as it is!!”

Time to get moving.

Inhaling deeply, Selina didn’t even want to be heard breathing. Crouching low, she kept closely behind Larry, who wound about between benches and other bits of furniture, using them effectively to his advantage as ‘shields’ and ‘covers’ of a sort. Selina and Arthur did the same, right until they were on the other side of the wall that the administration office door would open up into. They would use the momentary cover when Carl popped out of it, and then sneak inside…

Sharlet was doing a pretty decent job trying to pull Carl from his office. She was pitching a fit and literally saying anything she could in the hopes that something would land and grab his attention.

Pointing upwards at the large staircases leading up to the other vast levels of the hospital, Sharlet wailed impatiently, “Carl!!! I’m serious!! I saw Dr. Pamela Isley wandering around with some patient files!!”

Rolling his tired, vacive eyes, the large man groaned, “Sharlet, that’s simply bullshit, and I think you know it.”

Sticking to her point, the woman argued back, “It’s the truth!! I swear!!!”

By her feet, Selina tried getting her attention to make her story more believable. Upon hearing Selina’s faint hissing and catching her waving her arms frantically as she hid herself behind a large, round trash bin, Sharlet ‘broke’ out of ‘character’ by peering over at her.

Noticing her minor pause, Carl cleared his throat. “Uhh, Sharlet, you good?”

“Oh!!” turning back to him immediately, she grinned and nodded. “I’m fine!! J-just heard the voice of my long-lost grandmother, hahaha!!”

The vafrous ‘excuse’ worked for a moment, but then Carl leaned away from the door. “Sharlet,” he huffed out, “I need to get back to work, so if there’s nothin’ else I can do for you—”

“Uhh no!!! No!! There is something you can do!!” Sharlet shrieked out at him, not even hesitating or wavering in her voice as she barked out, “I told you, the patient file!! It’s umm…gone!!”

Having had enough of her odd behavior, Carl decided to test this. “Oh really,” he chuckled deeply, “and whose file would it be, then?”

….

Sharlet was stumped. While she hung back, Selina again waved her arms. When it didn’t become noticeable for her, Larry picked up a piece of discarded paper from within the trash bin, folded it up into a paper airplane, and quickly shot it at Sharlet’s knees. It poked her, and she gasped as she glared down at it.

Carl only sighed. “Sharlet? I’m waitin’ on you…”

Her eyes gazed over at her friends, and she saw Selina pointing sharply at Arthur. Mouthing his name, she hissed, “It’s _his_ file!!!”

….

Eyes brightening in hope, Sharlet turned to face Carl again. Bravely, she crowed, “Arthur Fleck’s file!! That’s the one that’s gone, Carl!!”

Blowing a tiny raspberry, Carl snapped, “You expect me to seriously believe that?”

Standing back, Sharlet folded her arms over her chest and gave a resolute nod his way. “Check it yourself, then!”

….

Reluctantly, Carl backed up towards the filing cabinet marked ‘F’, and he fished out his keys. As he unlocked the drawer, Sharlet turned to Selina and her friends, flashing them a triumphantly wide grin and a thumbs-up.

This was working.

Sliding the thick, heavy drawer open, Carl whispered to himself the names of every patient he could see there, and after a few seconds, he gasped thickly, “Oh fuck!!!”

“See!” Sharlet boisterously chuckled, “I freakin’ told you that—” The door suddenly banged open in the middle of her sentence, and Carl ran out aggressively. Sheer panic formed on his face, and he erratically dove up the stairs.

“OUT OF MY WAY, SHARLET!!”

As he dashed away in agitation, the twins stood and pushed Selina and Arthur inside the office. Shutting the door behind themselves, one of them grabbed a chair and placed it beneath the large crack in the wet ceiling that looked as though it would crumble down any minute. Selina shoved and kicked buckets out of their way, and Arthur simply stood trying to ensure Black didn’t make too noise. Rocking the cat against his chest, he pet her head softly while Selina searched around the office.

Her eyes soon caught sight of a dark umbrella Carl kept in his locker, and she knew what to do. Snatching it right up, she then turned it upside down while climbing on top of the chair. With everyone in the office watching, Selina used the blunt end of the long handle to bash repeatedly into the soft plaster of the ceiling. Dust caked down around them, and Selina smiled.

“It’s working!!”

“Hurry!” Sharlet cried out while staring away and keeping a close eye on the halls and meeting rooms.

Doing just that, Selina both punched and rammed the handle of the umbrella into the ceiling. Eventually, due to her efforts, the plaster fell apart entirely. Pushing and clawing more, Selina managed to produce a wide enough entrance hole that would fit both her own body and Arthur’s. She squinted up into the darkness, and she pushed aside some old wires and beyond rusted, damaged pipes.

“Okay, Arthur, you go first!!” Wanting to be sure that Black would be safest, Selina stepped down from the chair and held onto it, balancing it perfectly on the floor while Arthur leapt onto it.

As he stood carefully on top of it, he peered back down at Selina and weakly said, “I don’t get why these guys are helping us, but I wanted to say ‘thank you’ to them all…”

Knowing he was referring to her kind friends, Selina nodded while pushing Black’s small head down into the sweater. “You can thank them after we get out by sending letters if you want,” Selina then laughed, “heck, if this works, we can come back for them ourselves!!”

Gasping at the idea, Arthur wheezed, “T-together??”

…Selina’s heart skipped many beats, though she whispered back her promise. “Together.”

“Selina!!!!”

Hearing Sharlet’s desperate voice, Selina gently pushed Arthur up. With one hand, he firmly hoisted himself up into the vent, his chest sliding over the leftover rainwater smoothly enough. Soon, he pulled himself up the rest of the way when it was manageable, and then he held out his hands for Black. Selina passed the bundle containing the tiny kitten to him, and while Harry held onto the chair, she got on top of it. Balancing her weight carefully, she placed her right foot onto the back of it, and then smiled down at all her friends. Unfortunately, Sharlet was too busy with checking to make sure no one caught onto their antics, but the twins were watching her carefully.

Placing a hand on Harry’s shoulder softly, Selina whispered, “Thank you guys, for everything. Be good to each other, and you two keep taking care of Sharlet for me, please.”

Crossing their fingers in unison, they both canorously sang out, “We will!! Now go!!”

And she didn’t need to be told twice.

Without looking back, Selina kicked off the chair, landed inside the vent, and then heard the light ‘thump’ of the old flashlight the twins threw in for her after. Catching it deftly, she turned it on, spun around in the cramped vent, and saw Arthur crouched and waiting for her not even five feet away.

She gave him a firm nod and pointed ahead straight down the long, dusty tunnel. They were doing this now, one way or another, but at least they were together. That pushed aside any level of trepidation and concern Selina had…for the time being.


	15. War Wounds

The dust and clogged-up air soon got to Arthur’s lungs. Coughing and wheezing roughly to expel the troublesome substances from his sensitive throat, he tried suppressing the sounds of his coughing while he crawled through the vents with Selina shining the light for their path to be illuminated. Absorbed in trying to be stealthy and quick, no conversations went on for some time. Only the faint sliding and screeching sounds of their fingers and hands moving along the cold metal let them know that they were strongly persisting with their journey together.

Agitation and perplexing feelings welled up in Selina greatly, resulting in her chewing and gnawing fastidiously on her lower lip. Fussily, she huffed, brow forming little lines as she frowned deeply while Arthur cleared his throat.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” Arthur suddenly brought up his minor concerns and fears hinging on doubt to her when the silence grew quite intense.

She knew he’d been referring to Sharlet and the twins, and her heart was filled with serene amounts of joy specially reserved for Arthur. _He does care about others! I knew he was good!_

Hoping her friends would persevere with unity flowing through their veins, Selina remained optimistic. “They’re strong,” she smiled on, “I bet they’re already thinking of their own way out right now!!” She held an image of just that, with Sharlet’s happy, excited laughter bouncing around from one end of her skull to the next, resonating nicely within her ears.

It would be a reality one day…she would personally see to it that it was done, and that their friends were with them at their side, soon.

Crawling next to her in silence, Arthur stroked Black’s fuzzy ears lovingly as he huffed softly, “We’ll come back for them some day! I know we will!” Complaisant vow high in his voice, he crowed confidently, “They were good friends, and even though I’ve never had a friend before, I’ll remember their kindness for as long as I am alive.”

That sounded a bit too ‘absolute’ for Selina’s taste, but she knew he meant well. Gently patting him on the shoulder, she edged herself forward as she sighed deeply. “Your heart’s in the right place, Arthur. This is very good.”

Nuzzling against her, he whispered complacently, “You taught me that, you know…you’ve given me so much hope in the time I’ve known you.”

Upon hearing his sweet, down-to-earth confession, something pulled and tugged at Selina’s heart. It started out like a little ache, and soon, it rapidly escalated into feeling as though someone heavy had sat on her chest. Unable to breathe, she clutched at her chest, and her eyes started watering. She was feeling too many emotions at once, and they all clashed and churned within her mind and heart. Conflicted, she couldn’t hold back. A sob escaped her, but she clamped down on her mouth by slapping a hand over it.

Arthur stared at her, obvious signs of concern hitting him, too. Tilting his head at her curiously in the dark vents they were traveling through, he cautiously cried out to her. “Selina? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Wincing, she inhaled sharply, coughing once before she felt a tad better. “I’m okay, Arthur, I just was—aaaahhh!!!” She hadn’t been ready and waiting for the dip in the vent that led down into the laundry chute, and Selina went sliding right through. Her arms flailed about, but her brain quickly warned her that having her arms and hands out wasn’t the wisest thing to do, not unless she wanted to break a finger.

Tucking her arms against the sides of her body, she tried lessening her shrill cries of panic. Praying that the ‘ride’ would soon end was all she could do while regulating her breathing as best as she could.

“SELINA!!!” Arthur’s panicked cries hit her ears, but there wasn’t a way for her to stop her own body from rapidly flying and tumbling down the arch. Physics ensured that Selina slid all the way down, crashing and rolling pathetically forth as she picked up momentum. Ensuring that she’d been tucking her arms into her body to minimize the amount of damage and bruising, Selina closed her eyes when she eventually landed right on top of the large heap of sullied clothes at the bottom of the vent. It was now connected with the opening of the chute, and Selina fell right through into the filthy clothes. Screaming from the bottom of his lungs in unmitigated terror after her, Arthur also came sliding down the long chute. Inching out of the way so they wouldn’t crush each other, Selina held onto Arthur’s hands, steadying the bundle containing the kitten.

Pulling the sweater back, she sighed in pure relief once Black’s eyes met hers. At most, the feline appeared to be a bit visibly shaken, but she was otherwise fine. Such a brave girl! Checking on Arthur, next, Selina held his face in her hands as she looked around for bruising.

“You okay?” she gushed out in relief once she noticed he wasn’t badly hurt.

He nodded weakly, “I’m fine, I just wasn’t ready for that!!”

Neither was she, but in case Arthur slipped further into a ‘panic mode’, Selina remained strong, diligent, and cool-headed. “Freaking out won’t do us any good,” she wisely advised him, as well as herself, “we need to find a way through and hope no one heard us!!” 

Searching around, she espied the ledge of the humongous cart they’d tumbled into containing all the filthy clothes. “Let’s just get out of here, Arthur,” she suggested wisely, gripping the ledge closest to herself and bracing her weight up.

Silently, Arthur followed, stumbling out of the cart. He turned to help Selina out as well since he’d made it out faster. She willingly grabbed onto his hand firmly, and she felt relief coursing through her when he strongly pulled her up away from the raggedy cloths. Once her feet hit the floor, she let out a deep sigh.

Suddenly, she heard a ‘clicking’ sound that resembled someone turning the safety of a gun off…

Glancing up quickly, Selina and Arthur froze when they saw one tall, large guard standing right next to Dr. Jonathan Crane in the center of the laundry room. Dr. Crane was wearing a dark three-piece suit, almost blending into the dark shadows of the large laundry room. Only the gleam from the lights bouncing off his clean eyeglasses provided a haunting enough of a glow to his presence.

“Put what the hell you’re holding down, Mr. Fleck, and I promise you I won’t do anything crazy,” Dr. Crane grinned maliciously, standing still with his hands clasped over his lap.

Anger bled into Selina, and she couldn’t help but brusquely hiss, “You son of a bitch!! Let us go!!”

As the machines and fans above spun while working steadily, a low hum and buzz echoed about in the room. Some of the old lights flickered, making Dr. Crane appear far more menacing and sinister than before. His piercing cobalt eyes seemed so dead and lifeless, but he didn’t cease approaching while his guard pointed the gun at Arthur first, and then at Selina.

“Naughty, naughty, Miss Kyle,” raising a hand and gesturing behind her somewhere like the splenitive, ill-mannered monster he was, Dr. Crane cooed and chanted. When Selina glanced over her shoulder, she hissed when she saw another guard holding onto an old chain and pulley system that was clearly attached to a large garage door that obviously led outside. She could tell because it was already more than halfway open, and the dark, cold night and sky was visible.

They were so close…

Nodding at his lackey, Dr. Crane gave the signal for the man to slowly release bits of the chain and tug the door down. The vorpal sounds of the heavy door sliding down were too much of a deadly warning to Selina, and she began slipping out of her calm and collected demeanor while Dr. Crane practically salivated over her worried expressions.

“NO!!!” Selina cried, spinning back and forth between the guards and Dr. Crane, who was only regarding her in quite the gallionic way. “STOP THIS!! PLEASE!!”

Tilting his head at her, he snorted crudely, “I don’t think so. You didn’t fulfill your promise to me, Miss Kyle, so keep in mind that you’re in _no_ position whatsoever to be begging for anything.”

Twitching, Arthur blinked once before frowning in confusion at Selina. “Selina?” came his small, meek voice, “wh-what’s he saying?”

….

Selina’s heart nearly ceased beating. She had practically wiped away from her mind the fact that she’d once collaborated with Dr. Crane against Arthur, and there was no denying it. Shutting her eyes painfully while she wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole, she whispered, “Arthur, please try to understand how much I care about you…” Her heart leapt and skipped a few beats, and every artery and vein in her chest felt as though a deep, great discission had been tearing it to shreds and pieces.

Laughing coldly, Dr. Crane blurted loudly, “I wouldn’t be so quick to listen to her, Mr. Fleck; this one’s a wildcat, even though she’s been temporarily declawed.”

Shaking her gently, Arthur rasped, “Selina, what does he mean? What happened?”

Opening her eyes, Selina spat at Dr. Crane, “You monster! Can’t you let him go, then?? Keep me here, but let him go! He doesn’t need to hear this!!”

“Hear what?!?!” Arthur was visibly shaken and becoming more agitated by the minute. Glaring back and forth between Selina and Dr. Crane, he roared mightily, “Selina!! What did you do?!?”

Rolling his eyes in boredom, Dr. Crane suddenly reached into his pockets and fumbled around for something. “She’s been playing you like the fiddle you are, Mr. Fleck,” he offered as he clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I’m sorry to be the one to burst your bubble here, but you shouldn’t be so trusting and eager to make friends with Selina Kyle…” Licking his lips, he concluded, “After all, they say that a leopard can never change her spots, right?”

“Whatever you’re saying about Selina isn’t true!” Arthur cried out boldly, hugging Black to his chest protectively. When Selina was silent, he added, “Selina’s my friend!!”

Shaking his head in dismay, Dr. Crane sighed, “I’m sadly going to have to disagree with you, Mr. Fleck, but she’s been playing you for a sap, and you bought right into it.”

Arthur vehemently exploded, “YOU’RE LYING TO ME!!”

“I’m not.”

Turning to Selina, Arthur nudged her with his elbow. “Selina! Tell him!! Tell him it’s all a lie!!”

Frozen, she sheepishly looked away from his eyes and hung her head low. That submissive gesture was received like a harsh slap across the face for Arthur. Breath hitching in his throat, eyes bulging out, he stared up at Dr. Crane.

“No…I—”

“Yes,” withdrawing one of the many tape recordings Selina had provided him, Dr. Crane pressed ‘play’. At once, Arthur’s voice came through as he went over a few jokes with Selina.

 _‘Why did the invisible man turn down the job offer?’_ Selina’s giggle suddenly rang out after Arthur had brought up the joke.

_‘Don’t know!’_

Giggling, Arthur on the tape answered, _‘He just couldn’t see himself doing it!’_

Hitting fast-forward, Dr. Crane waited a few seconds before pausing at another part. Again, he pressed ‘play’. This time, Arthur let out a soft sigh on the tape as he fondly whispered out, _‘I really like you, Selina. I think you’re the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever seen.’_

He went on and on playing over the tape like the twisted, manipulative bastard he was. Every time he paused at a specific, significant spot, his smile grew wider and more menacing. Dr. Crane was seriously annoying how much Arthur was squirming and suffering, and to see it all before herself nearly broke Selina down completely. She felt just as powerless and diminutive as Arthur from her vantage point, and she knew that this was what Dr. Crane had longed for all along.

Having heard more than what he could tolerate, Arthur emitted a painful cry of sheer torment that hit every corner of the room hauntingly. The results and reactions he’d shown regarding Selina’s betrayal were highly desipient, but that seemed to be what aroused Dr. Crane’s sadistic, depraved pleasure.

It was in his very nature to enjoy tormenting and causing others to suffer in _every_ way. He loved locating and finding weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and once he’d discovered what any individual was highly fearful of and sensitive on, he would exploit it normally by employing tools to deracinate the person out of their comfort and safety zones. Yes, that was his very purpose, and that was the cause of his desiderium.

Now, he was wielding the tape recorder like a triumphant weapon before Arthur. Grinning like a deranged psychopath, Dr. Crane, rewound a particular recording about Arthur’s thoughts and feelings regarding Selina. The discommodious situation was successful in rendering both adults stunned and frozen. As much as they were emotionally and psychologically drained, the weaker they became, the stronger and more confident Dr. Crane grew.

Like a power-sucking monster from hell unleashed onto the Earth…

 _‘Selina, I…I think you’re perfect for me…’_ The love-stricken, smitten sigh Arthur emitted there in the recording had been the last straw for the patient.

Shaking profoundly, he held up a hand to his left ear. “No!” he shrieked as he set Black down. The kitten padded off and hid somewhere behind Selina in fear, no doubt sensing how tumultuous the situation was becoming.

“No, no, no!!” Arthur cried out over and over again, trembling violently while sniffling and sobbing lightly. Rage nearly caused for him to explode as his knuckles and fingers turned whiter than a ghost’s pallor. His bones and frame locked into place, and he appeared as though he was possessed with a fury the world wasn’t ready to face.

While Dr. Crane pocketed the recording, he announced, “Oh yes, I’m afraid she was listening _extra_ cautiously to every interaction you shared with her, and she was my ears…”

“NOOO!!”

Wanting to calm him down before he lost it, Selina gently touched his shoulders to try and steady him. Unfortunately, Arthur had grown quite hostile, and he shoved her away roughly. “Don’t touch me!” he screamed viciously at her, face turning red and heated. “I trusted you, Selina, and all this time you were stabbing me in the back!! How could you?!?”

Pain stung in her eyes more than the beginnings of fresh tears did. Weeping softly, Selina shook her head as she cried weakly, “You can _still_ trust me, Arthur!! Look, I’m getting you out of here!! Please!!”

Brushing her aside, Arthur strongly exclaimed, “I’m _not_ going anywhere with you!! Leave me alone!!”

“This is boring me,” Dr. Crane randomly announced, snapping his fingers at the maliferous guard holding the chains that kept the large, metal door up. “Close it right up, Phil; it’s time to leave Mr. Fleck to his fears of never having someone to trust in his life, while Miss Kyle here can rot in her own fear of the knowledge that she’ll become an old woman in here…”

The chains were dropping, and the door began slowly sliding down. It let out a deep groan, the stars and moon slowly disappearing as it began closing. Selina tried shaking Arthur out of his stupor, but it was no use. The other man simply moved away from her, hiding his face behind a hand while his shoulders shook morbidly. He was crying like a little lost boy, and each sob that hit Selina’s ears cut deeper and deeper into her heart.

 _‘I caused this,’_ she thought to herself in heavy remorse. _‘I caused this, but I know I can fix it…’_

The guard with the gun suddenly aimed for Arthur, and Selina saw red. Yes, she _could_ most certainly fix it, and she _would_. With a war-cry that pierced through the air, she leapt at the guard. Due to her insanely quick reflexes, Selina got the jump on him. She bounced off a wall for height and momentum added to her advantage, and she landed right on top of his firing arm. The gun was thrown out of his hands, and Selina punched him as hard as she could. Her fist swung through the air, and it bashed against his nose. Bleeding out at once, the man stumbled back, cradling his injured nose.

“HEY!!!” Dr. Crane caught onto what she was doing, and as the door sliding down grew louder and louder, the laundry room grew darker and darker. Like a tomb, it would soon seal off, trapping them all if they didn’t hurry…

But she had to, for _both_ their safety. Selina Kyle vowed _never_ again to be anyone’s prisoner or slave.

Eyeing the gun, both Selina and Dr. Crane dove towards it. He was faster, and he used his long legs to kick the gun out of her fingers before she could pick it up off the floor. Hissing in pain, Selina fell and ducked when Dr. Crane tried kicking her in the face. He missed her by a few inches, but he was faster, still. Recovering from her fists swinging wildly at him, he coordinated his attack to dive down. Balancing his weight on the palm of his right hand, his random move caused Selina to miss in her own attack. Mistiming it all, she hadn’t been ready for him to punch her in the gut on his way back onto both feet. She was knocked backwards, giving him enough of a chance to swipe the gun nimbly off the floor.

Aiming it between her eyes, he chuckled once he caught his breath. “You’re fast, Miss Kyle,” he sighed out while she stopped moving and held her hands up in a surrender. Enjoying that he had her right where he wanted her, he almost drooled as he garbled out, “Sadly, you’re not fast enough…” Before he could pull the trigger, something puissant bashed against the back of his skull, and the rough contact emitted a dull ‘thud’.

Dr. Crane’s eyes widened, and he held up a trembling hand to cradle the back of his skull. Slowly drawing his hand away and looking at it, his lips quivered when nothing but his own bright red blood glimmered in the lights back at him. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and with a dull wheeze, he crashed down to the floor unconsciously.

Selina and Arthur gasped as they stared at his limp, unconscious form, and when they glanced up, they nearly leapt away in fright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's our mystery hero? :O


	16. Ghost of a Survivor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some REALLY dark, sad content up ahead 😰😥😭

Dr. Crane wasn’t moving. He simply lay sprawled out on the floor, eyes tightly shut, with his gun limply drawn in the open palm of his head. Blood coated the back of his head and soaked along the floor, but when his chest slowly rose and fell, Selina knew he wasn’t dead.

Calmer now that she knew the wounded man was going to survive, she fought off the glum tremors and sweat gathering in own cold, clammy hands, rubbing them along the fabric of her old jeans while she forced herself to greet whoever had knocked Dr. Crane out. Whoever they were, she prayed they would be forgiving and merciful enough to either give them a quick death or allow them to flee. Eyes navigating up along the darkness, Selina held her breath in anticipation hanging like scent of death in the air. Immediately, her jaw dropped once she saw who it was standing there in the shadows.

“Dr. Isley?!?!”

The red headed woman held a small golf club in her hands, her knuckles and fingers white due to the intensity behind her grip. Appearing frazzled and stymied by her own actions, Dr. Isley wasn’t even able to produce a word for a while. She gaped at the golf club she wielded, noting how warped it was after her vicious blow. The dangerous object was bent at an angle, with bits of blood dripping from the curved top. Jaw quivering for a second, she stared wide-eyed at Dr. Crane on the floor sprawled out unconsciously. 

“Woah…” she shook as she dropped her club down as though it were on fire. It echoed in the expansive laundry room while she shrieked and fought to catch her breath. “I…I can’t believe I did that!!!” Swallowing thickly, her breath fogged up her lenses, but then she smiled at her own actions. Looking up at Selina, she stomped her foot on the floor and announced proudly with her head held high, “I-I did that, and it f-felt great!!”

Well. It was great to have a break in the action, but the youthful blonde was a bit stymied and suspicious of Dr. Isley. This went against everything she’d displayed and presented in her demeanor up until now. Majority of the patients had warned Selina from trusting Dr. Isley, and yet now, the other female had willingly gotten in the way and attacked Dr. Crane…

As wonderful as the woman’s aid had been, Selina didn’t have think to thank her much. Leaping up to her feet, she whirled around once she saw the last bit of moonlight streaming in the old room.

“THE DOOR!! ARTHUR!!!”

The stunned man slid away from Dr. Crane’s fallen body, moving himself along towards the guard insisting upon doing Dr. Crane’s nasty bidding, still. Selina yelled after him to hurry, and with all the courage backed up in his system, Arthur bashed himself into the guard. Barreling into the man, he was able to knock him to the side away from the chains, and right on time, Arthur rolled and crawled beneath the door. It now had approximately six or so inches before it would reach the ground and close.

Groaning in pain, the guard he’d knocked over pulled out a long bolt cutter from behind a crate. Before Selina could do anything, the man used his remaining energy to snip away at the chains. They came apart with a loud ‘clang’, coiling down on the cold floor. Without anything to hold it up, the door came down faster and faster.

Shoving her roughly, Dr. Isley screamed in fear, “SELINA!!! GOOOO! GO NOW!”

Her feet flew so hard and so fast along the floor that Selina was certain the friction had created sparks and fire. Black ran alongside her, sleekly squeezing herself beneath the door. As she ran, Selina’s hair whipped around her face, and she peered down beneath the metallic door into Arthur’s eyes. He held out a hand for her, inching back so the door wouldn’t crush him.

Counting to ‘three’, Selina fell onto her back, sliding quickly along the floor until the entire length of her slender body had made it through. The heavy bottom of the door just barely scraped over her stomach, but she’d cleverly made it. The large door banged shut behind her, effectively sealing off the rest of the space between the outside world and Arkham State Hospital.

Carefully rising to her feet, Selina felt Black rubbing her small head against her ankles. She purred and meowed loudly, as though thanking Selina in her own feline way. The moon was large and bright as it greeted them in the expansive sky. Selina stood next to Arthur, who was gaping at the sky like he’d never seen it before. His eyes never ceased looking skyward, finding some comfort and joy within the scintillating stars. Selina also found the sparkling dots lining the sky fascinating. They were all riding the sky beautifully like tiny jewels from afar.

Clearing her throat, she gently began leading the way. “Come on, Arthur,” she whispered in the dark, “we can enjoy the sights another time, but first, we have to—”

Suddenly, Selina’s world flashed white. Something hard bashed her against the back of the head, forcing her to go tumbling down to the cold, hard ground. The wet, muddy earth met her nose, and she rolled over in blinding hot bouts of pain. As her vision faded in and out, she saw and heard multiple footsteps running about, followed by a few voices whispering hurriedly in her ears.

She heard and witnessed nothing else a second after, when a clenched fist bashed into her face.

(***’’***”)

The first thing Selina knew when she slowly roused from her state of temporary unconsciousness was that someone had splashed cold water on her. It was icy to the touch, and it shook her awake rudely. Gasping and sputtering as her skin rose in light goosebumps all over, she blinked hard as she tried studying her surroundings.

Though she had a splitting headache, Selina discovered she was outside somewhere. The world around her blurred into a whirlwind of dark and grey shades. The shapes all morphed and bled into nothingness, and Selina felt her gut clenching nauseously. Her skin burned like she’d been afflicted with a bilious fever, and she felt weak all over.

A roaring sound like a thousand charging lions emanated from around her, followed by a tremendous clap of thunder echoing in the sky. Bright, almost blinding sparks fired off into the night sky, and then the world went white again for a moment. It soon turned into a hazy greyness as if fluffy clouds had engulfed her. Selina suddenly noticed it’d grown awfully quiet…where was the sound of the wind in her ears?? Where was Arthur??

On cue, almost, Selina heard weak muffling. As she’d been lying on the grass, she turned herself about, and she almost let out a piercing scream of reverent terror. Arthur was being pinned and held forcefully down by two men wearing burlap sacks over their faces. Holes had been cut out for their eye sockets, and they glared down viciously as they kept his arms behind his back violently. Pressing his face into the mud and dirt when he tried crying out to Selina, they snickered when Arthur roared out in pain.

“ARTHUR!!” Selina tried scrambling over to them, but a hand yanked her by the hair back down strongly. Tears sprang in her eyes as her scalp singed and burned. Her back bashed against the ground, and as she stared up through her hot, salty tears, another man with a dark brown sack over his head peered down at her.

Lifting the lower part of his mask up, he offered her an ebullient smile as his breath fogged out before himself. “Hey blondie,” he gruffly greeted, bending down on a knee as he knelt before her.

Trying to get up, Selina rasped brokenly, “What’re you—” His hand shoved her down, and as Selina’s mind wandered, she heard distinct sounds of the man flicking open a silver, sharp blade. Holding it up to her cheek, he pressed the sharp tip into her flesh barely in a warning.

“Don’t try to scream or do anything stupid, you hear?” Moving back, his free hand rested on the fly of his dark jeans. As Selina watched on in pure, illimitable horror, the man unzipped his fly, and he was pushing down the y-front of his jeans. It didn’t take her too long to piece together what he wanted to do to her.

“N-no!!!” Crawling back on her hands, she tried squirming away, but he tugged on her hair again. A second later, he bashed her in the chest with his strong elbow, and Selina choked on a large gulp of air.

Arthur roared monstrously in the grass before them, wriggling as he cried out for them to stop. It was of no use, and all it did was earn him a brutally rough punch to the cheek.

Selina felt her heart practically imploding in her chest. There wasn’t anything she could do when the man pressed the tip of the blade into her throat lightly. Pushing her thighs wide apart, he nestled himself between them in the foulest of ways as he grunted with pandemian tones in his voice, “When I’m done, my friends would like a turn, too…”

_‘No…no…please, god…no…’_

Resigning herself to her grim fate, Selina closed her eyes and only prayed he would finish quickly. This wasn’t fair…this hadn’t been what she’d planned for her first sexual experience to be like…

And suddenly, amid the strepor, a loud ‘BANG’ blasted across the sky. Someone groaned in pain, and then came a surprised utter of “What the—”

BANG!!!

She recognized that sound; it was a gun firing off.

The man on top of Selina peered back, shouting for his friends. As Selina shoved him off her body, she peered into the darkness ahead, and she saw Arthur steadying onto his feet. He raised his hand, and firmly resting into the palm of his hands and between his fingers happened to be a small, black pistol. Arthur had already shot one of the men down, and the second one was trying to attack him. Bleeding from the side of his hip quickly, the man let out a strained roar as he dove at Arthur with his fingers wrapped around the other man’s neck…

At once, the leader of the group rounded on Selina. Grabbing her by the neck, he raised his right hand wielding the knife, and he tried plunging down into her chest. Shrieking in fear, Selina quickly kneed him square in the chest. Momentarily stunning him, she rolled away while Arthur and the other lackey struggled for the gun. Selina was soon overpowered by the man who’d attempted to violate her. Lunging at her, he sliced through the air with the knife. It cut through the air, making small ‘swishing’ sounds. Ducking and dodging each and every time cleverly, Selina made a circle around the man and tried running towards Arthur.

She didn’t make it very far; the man threw himself on top of her, and he was trying to drive the knife into her body. Selina forced herself to roll onto her back, and she struggled with the man as hard as she could. Digging her fingertips into his eyes, she tried blinding him, but then he headbutted her roughly. As she gasped in pain while blinking back tears, the man dropped the knife when Arthur shot his friend, and then fired away one more time at him. The bullet did well to put his friend down, but in haste, Arthur had missed. Pulling the trigger again, Arthur heard a loud ‘click’, alerting him to the brutal fact that he’d run out of bullets.

The leader of the group snarled at Selina, “I’LL FUCKIN’ KILL YOU, BITCH!!!”

Fingers crushing her windpipe, Selina heard Arthur screaming something at her, but she was unable to make it out. She blindly reached in the dark for anything, and after moments of clawing at dirt and grass, she felt her skin making contact with something cold…

It was the knife!!!

Suddenly, Arthur’s words made sense to her immediately.

“KILL HIM, SELINA!!! USE THE KNIFE!!”

She did. Without even thinking about it, the young woman’s instincts for self-preservation kicked in. Not at all considering her next actions, Selina relied on her true, rumbustious nature to defend herself. Plunging the knife deeply into her attacker’s neck, she soon felt the warm splash of his blood upon her face.

It still didn’t matter; she wanted him erased from the planet for what he’d wanted to do to her.

Again and again, Selina moved the knife in and out his neck, cutting and stabbing him so far and so hard in the throat that she’d almost completely decapitated him. His blood gushing over her face didn’t stop her, and she shoved him off herself when his lifeless body draped over her own. Finally, he was dead. She dropped the knife, and just as she did, Arthur’s hands wrapped around her shirt collar, and he dragged her out from beneath the deceased man’s corpse.

Wailing as she kicked and clawed, Selina continued to panic until Arthur held her face in both hands. Shaking her once, he faced her, and she could hardly recognize him. Mud caked his face, but his eyes shone brightly before her own.

“Selina! Stop!!”

Trembling, she remembered that he’d shot two men in the blink of an eye. Was he going to kill her, as well??

….

This was all his fault…he’d shot the other two men, and she’d played her own part in murdering someone else well, but still, it was _all Arthur’s fault_.

Hissing in white-hot anger, Selina shoved him aside as she screamed, “YOU MONSTER!!! YOU KILLED THEM!!! Y-YOU SH-SHOT THEM!!!” Blanching, she scented blood rising in the air, and she nearly vomited. “Oh g-god…you…you!!”

“I had no choice, Selina! They were going to hurt us!” Arthur glared at her, but before he could speak up again, Selina intervened.

“Th-the gun!! You took it from the guard!” She felt so angry that he’d broken her trust. Had it been that easy for him to do that to his own mother and to Murry Franklin, too??? Who was this man she’d practically trusted with her whole life??!

Sputtering at her for a moment, Arthur soon composed himself and clipped out, “Y-you killed someone too!!”

This made her blood run cold. Feeling as though someone had thrown her right into a pool of ice, Selina felt guilt slamming into her. Shaking her head, she supplied nervously, “I…I was…he was g-going to…”

Nodding, Arthur clicked out, “I did the same to those three Wayne employees on the subway, but no one believed me…no one…”

His voice trailed into her ear, and she suddenly lost it. No. She was not a damn thing like him. He enjoyed killing, and she had only done it to save herself. Never would she ever take another life again, no matter the cost.

Timorously, she rasped, “N-no, Arthur, I’m not like y-you! You’re a despicable beast!!”

Now, her words really got to him. His eyes blackened, and he snarled in defense, “I could say the exact same thing about you!!”

….

This struck her like a brute slap to the face, and she felt her anger rising like bile in her throat. Growling so hard and so deeply that her throat felt as raw as meat in a butcher’s shop, Selina spat at him, “You freak! You’re worse!!” Gesturing at the bodies, she exclaimed, “This wasn’t part of the plan!!”

“Neither was your betrayal, Selina!” Arthur vehemently threw out, eyes turning glossy as his temples clenched so hard that his veins jutted up beneath his skin. Emitting a sound so barbaric and unconstrained that it didn’t seem possible for any man to create such a noise, Arthur wailed at the sky, “A-all your lies, your s-sweet words!! Y-you lead me on!! You’re worse than anyone else I’ve ever met!!”

An uncomfortable stretch of silence went on between them, with both agitated adults not knowing what to say. They panted out their frustration, anger, and resentment, with the sounds of nightlife moving on behind them in an eerie accompaniment. Everything had changed in the blink of an eye between them, and yet the world kept on spinning round. For the rest of the world, for the rest of the citizens of Gotham who slept peacefully and comfortably in their beds, nothing had changed. But for Selina Kyle and Arthur Fleck, the world was now burning and melting.

Finally, Arthur ran a hand through his hair as he rasped in exhaustion, “E-everything we had was…was a fake…it didn’t mean anything to you…”

Lips curling back, Selina felt she’d dealt with enough. This was more than she could tolerate and more than she could handle. Arthur Fleck wasn’t on the same level as she was. Where she’d first suspected they had some sort of an understanding and common ground, she’d sadly come to admit that these were all vain imaginings of her youth. Now, that youthful innocence was slowly drying up and fading away. It was time to wake up to reality and adulthood.

No more games. No more laughter. No more jokes. That was all a thing of the past, and like all strong people, Selina was willing to move on from the past and learn from it.

It was all laid out clearly for her, now. He was a dispiteous murderer, and through sticking by his side, she’d become one as well. He was no good for her either way, and no matter how much she’d grown to enjoy him, it wasn’t going to work.

Brushing the mud and tearing bits of mildly dewy grass out of her hair, Selina stood before him and scanned the environment. She could be able to go along on her own way; a long thicket of trees would serve as her cover until dawn, and if she continued along heading south, she would be back in Gotham City by mid-afternoon.

She’d decided.

Without regrets, she hissed down at Arthur, “We’re done here. The friendship we once shared is now broken, Arthur. We both betrayed each other, and it’s enough.”

A small, meek ‘meow’ came at her, suddenly, and Selina felt a body rubbing against her legs. Knowing it was Black, she bent to scoop the small animal into her arms. Holding the feline to her chest, she sniffled and willed herself to remain strong. Oh, how her heart was heavy with turmoil and pain…

“I’m…going, now,” she announced and tried holding her tears in. “I’m taking Black with me, and she will serve as a memoir, perhaps…for all the good times we had, Arthur Fleck.”

He didn’t even argue. Still running his hand along his scalp, he only murmured in defeat, “Fine. The friendship’s over, and I wish you luck, Selina Kyle.”

She refused to stay there a moment longer. For if she did, she knew he would be able to see her breaking down and crying. Marching off towards the thick bushes and trees, Selina took a moment to catch her breath. Once the cool night air filled her lungs, she paused, and slowly craned her neck around over her shoulders.

With a cold, detached sneer, she spat acridly, “I don’t need luck, Mr. Fleck; I just need my own confidence and strength. That’s all I have in this world, and that’s good enough for me.” And she meant it. She should’ve known better than to be so forthcoming and trusting around someone like Arthur…no… _Joker_.

This had been her biggest and most fatal error, but she was going to learn from it.

Bowing her head, she all but hissed out, “Goodbye, Joker.”

He didn’t even say ‘goodbye’ back to her.

On that sad night, a man and a woman got separated. They both walked along in separate directions with unease and misery weighing in their hearts. They were fearful in not knowing what the path they’d selected had to bring. It was a risk they chose to take, and they embarked on their journeys…alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not the end of Selina and Arthur, I promise!!!🙏😰😥  
> P.S. Thank you, Dr. Isley!! I liked making her help Selina and Arthur escape!!


	17. Darkness Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of some unsavory violence here, beware.

**_Three Months Later_ **

**_October 29 th, 1983_ **

Smoke billowed back and forth between two security guards who stood posted on the inner side of a large gate. It measured at least ten feet high in the air, and the perimeter covered at least an entire yard around a large mansion looming in the distance like a sleeping beast. The moon was slowly rising above the horizon, but it wasn’t much of a companion in the cold, autumn night. Leaves on majority of trees had already withered and fallen off, scratching along the semi-wet pavement whenever the wind escorted them about. Ahead, thick clouds of smoke billowed forth out of an old chimney of the enormous, fancy mansion.

Shivering, the guard on the right chillingly complained, “It’s so damn cold!!! Wish the boss would just let us in already!! Not like there’s much to guard out here anyway!”

Nodding in his agreement, his friend commented vigorously, “It ain’t fair! He sits up there in his nice, cozy house, while we freeze our asses right off!”

“Say! I got an idea!” Snickering, his friend suggested, “Why don’t we go on up there and give him a piece of our minds?”

Slowly, they gazed up at the brightly lit mansion. It beamed like a bright lighthouse in the middle of dark, stormy weather, looming magnificently over them. It practically was calling and beckoning them.

Rubbing their hands together to keep warm, they chuckled together as they slowly moved away from the gate. They’d hardly taken more than two steps when they suddenly heard a small sound.

‘Meow.’

The two men peered down, and as they squinted ahead, right before their very feet, they saw a medium-sized black cat with white-tipped ears. Its tongue flicked out of its mouth, and it again purred out a tiny, somnolent ‘meow’. Eyes a mix between green and yellow, it eyed the men almost evilly, as though it was aware of something they weren’t. The night went deathly silent, and the burly men slowly gazed back and forth at each other.

….

‘Shlink!’

“What the—”

At once, a dark, gloved hand with tiny needle-point claws poking up from each fingertip stabbed right into arteries in their necks. One hand per man, holding them back against the cold metal of the large gate. The men twitched for a moment, and as the entire length of the needle claws sank into their flesh, their eyes rolled back into their heads. A few seconds later, they slumped down to the floor, collapsing in a dull heap.

Without a care in the world, the cat raised a dainty black paw, and it began licking and cleaning itself.

A shadow crossed over the gate, and suddenly, a woman flew up along the top. Flipping over it gracefully, she landed perfectly down on both feet. Raising her gloved hands, she snickered as she turned off the night vision on her green goggles. Wriggling the needles jutting out from her claws fashioned onto her glove, the woman purred in delight, “Meow.”

Her feline companion lazily sat back, watching her in glee while purring deeply.

High heel stilettos clicking, Selina Kyle moved sleekly in her all-black spandex cat costume. Waving her claws at Black, she spoke out with charm, “Diazepam injections work wonders, don’t they?” Detaching the empty needles from her gloves, she chucked them over her shoulder into the bushes while the guards snoozed behind her.

Bending down, she gently pet Black on the top of her tiny head. Her own pointy ears jutting up from the top of her skull as part of her cat costume highly resembled Black’s, and the cat stared at them in awe.

Petting her little friend for a moment, Selina then retracted her built-in claws before standing to her full height again. “Keep an eye out for me, would you?” Winking at her furry friend, she then dashed on towards the back of the mansion without another word.

She made sure to put wads of gum and other sticky things over the screens of the cameras that scanned along for any intruders. With the first part of the security system out of her way, Selina deftly put her cat-burglar skills to good use as she sliced away at the wires connecting to the old generator. That had to go before a black out could happen. It would serve well to keep the other security team distracted long enough for her to slip inside the mansion and take whatever she wanted.

How delightful!!

She knew where the fuse box was, and she playfully skipped over to it. Blowing a brand-new bubble, she popped the gum while snickering. Chewing it softly between her white teeth, she kicked open the lid of the fuse box, and she searched through the main power source. Locating the red and yellow wires, she used her claws to cut them open. Sparks flew, and Selina cartwheeled away while the alarms in the building went off. The doors blasted open, and at least fifteen men ran right out.

Morons.

Using the distraction to her sheer advantage, while they all ran about like chickens with their heads cut off, Selina moved swiftly inside. Her body suit made it so that she slunk about sleekly and soundlessly, almost like a shadow in the night. She moved along through the rooms, ignoring the other magnetic displays of jewelry and cash. What she’d come for was something far more expensive and far greater…yes, it would bring her aeviternal wealth and joy…

It was an ancient Egyptian cat mask made entirely of black and gold trim. It was said to be well worth over ten million dollars, and Selina wanted it. Heaven knows how much she would be able to make as she sold it on the black market. It was well worth the sacrifice and effort.

But she hadn’t been prepared for more men in darkly clad gear and clothing to be standing about outside the doors of the room holding the mask…three men stood there, however, holding stun guns and batons in their hands. From the looks of it, they were all prepared for a battle.

Shit.

Well, there was no point in turning back, now…

Daringly, Selina slid out from the corner adjacent to their backs, and she inched forward. With one hand, she firmly shut the mouth of the man closest to herself. With her free hand, she gripped the stun gun of the other, shoving it into his thigh. The loud ‘zapping’ sound it caused caught the attention of the third man, but that had been what she’d wanted all along. Quickly, she stomped down with her heel into the crotch of the man whom she’d silenced, and a second later, she shocked the last guard out cold.

Finally, she swiftly turned and aimed a high kick for the jaw of the man she’d silenced once releasing him. His head bashed into the wall, and he too was knocked unconscious.

“Bastards,” she hissed, brushing off her body suit as she moved towards the door. She’d waited so long for this, but she was still cautious enough in her approach. Pressing her ear against the door, she turned on her microphone chips hidden away in the elongated cat ears. Every sound was amplified and heightened, and Selina focused as much as she could.

….

Only the wind howled in reply.

Supposing it was safe, she pushed down on the handles, and she wandered inside.

And what a magnificent room…what a beauteous sight to behold. Emitting a tiny wolf whistle, Selina sauntered up to the center of the gloriously decorated room. A glass display case held the golden mask she’d wanted all along, and it stood there like a gift for her. Eyes far too hungry suddenly, she purred in zeal, “Ooooh yeah!!”

Shutting off her microphone and visual magnification feature, she pushed her goggles up and was rewarded with a clear view of her prize. It was too good to be true!! All she had to do now was to press the tiny security release switch and dismantle the mask from its little case…

It was hers…

Due to her lusty greed, Selina failed to see another reflection appearing in the glass just over her shoulder. Already far too late, she reached out to touch the glass when she felt a puff of hot air against her neck. Eyes widening in fear, Selina froze. At once, a hand shoved her in the center of her back, and she went flying right through the glass case. It exploded and shattered into a hundred tiny pieces, ripping her body suit in many ways as she slid along the various shards of dangerous glass.

Summoning the strength to at least inch up on her side, Selina gasped and panted for air. It truly felt as though the wind had been knocked clean out of her, and she winced when she saw a tanned man with thinning black hair standing over her. He weighed at least three hundred pounds easily. His muscles bulged beneath his white dress shirt, and he menacingly glared down at her, no doubt aiming to be as intimidating as he could. Rolling his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, he grinned a vivacious, toothy grin at her.

Not even moving to show him she was scared, Selina snootily commented, “You _do_ realize you have a chipped tooth, right?”

Pausing, the man blinked hard, clearly thrown off, and then growled. Diving at her, he aimed his fist for her jaw, but she rolled out of the way efficiently. Once back on her feet, Selina withdrew a small knife from her utility belt, but the man was faster. Barreling into her, he used his superior weight wisely to knock her off her feet. She stumbled into a wall, but braced herself against it while throwing her head back in laughter.

“Come on, tough guy,” she jeered, “I’m not really intimated by a guy who has fake teeth and thinning hair!!”

“Will you be intimidated by me, then?”

At once, a new voice spoke out, causing Selina to surcease all movement. Petrified, she got to her feet, assuming a fighting position immediately. Someone walked into the room, and as Selina glared head-on at them, she nearly burst out into laughter once again. She’d been expecting for someone even larger and wider than the thug she’d been battling with to waltz in, but the man who was now inside the room was the complete opposite.

He was relatively short and stout. If Selina was guessing properly, she thought he wasn’t any taller than four feet and eight inches. Almost like his guard, this man possessed thinning black hair over his round, bulbous scalp, dark beady eyes, and was wearing thick reading glasses. He had a long, hooked nose that pointed down over his upper lip, which was curled back to reveal sharp, stained teeth that were holding tightly onto a thick cigar. The foul-smelling thing’s odors wafted in the air, and the short man gripped it one of his dark, gloved hands. He was wearing a black button up dress shirt and pinstripe black pants. His clothes were neat, clean, freshly ironed, and he looked quite dapper. He dragged along with himself in his right hand a brand-new black top hat, and he picked some dirt off it while scoffing sardonically at Selina.

“So, you’re the infamous ‘black cat burglar’ who’s been plaguing Gotham, huh?” He had a heavy British accent, and it sent virose shivers running through Selina. Clicking his tongue against his teeth, the ornithoid, bird-like man crowed, “What an impertinence, indeed.”

Mustering up her courage, she knew there wouldn’t be much of a détente here. This man walked about as though he were a great potentate, and it pissed Selina right off. The rebellious young woman snarled at him, but before she could do much, he pulled out a long shotgun he’d been concealing fiendishly behind his stout frame. Aiming it right for her chin, he pressed both barrels of it there and shoved her head back. While he had her in place, his lackey gripped her arms and made sure she couldn’t fight back.

Tsking discourteously at her, the snobby man drawled, “Too bad, so sad, kitten…looks like tonight, you’ll have to learn the hard way not to mess around with things that don’t belong to you.”

The lackey kicked her hard in the back of the shins, and she crashed down weakly to the floor. Huffing angrily, she couldn’t even begin to comprehend how much pain she was in. If she’d previously felt that sliding through the sharp glass was difficult enough to bear, the feeling of having rough kneecaps bashing into her softer flesh completely left the young, thin woman feeling beyond macerated.

Tiptoeing sadistically towards her, the short man with the thick glasses wriggled his fingers, inching his hand to hover near her mask. “Let’s have a lookie lookie, shall we?”

No. No!

Before he could pull her mask off, Selina tried unleashing a quick punch. The henchman’s reflexes were by far faster. In a jiffy, he grabbed Selina’s clenched fist. Her bones crunched slightly in a warning. If he applied more pressure, she was certain they would shatter much like the glass had.

Screaming at the height of her pain, she fell back down, whimpering when the man finally released her tiny hand. She cradled it while softly weeping, internally damning this miniscule man to hell many times over. Her entire hand burned and throbbed, and she hated it. She loathed feeling so small and weak.

It was pointless to struggle.

The ‘leader’ chuckled sadistically as he tapped his cigar over an ashtray. “There, there,” he cooed down at her, his surquedry quite high in the air like smoke, “perhaps that’ll do well to take you down a peg…” His chubby hands came down upon the top of her cowl, and he laughed again. “I need you to be obedible, pet, so can you promise me that you’ll behave?”

Feeling her mask being tugged upwards, Selina only hissed, “I promise, but might I at least know the hell you are? You know,” she jabbed and objurgated with attitude, “just so I can come back and kick your tiny ass myself.”

Emitting a low whistle at her persistent obstinance, the man huffed, “I ought to serve you right, Missy…a good, proper order of suggillation…a proper lashing…”

Not really understanding his vocabulary, Selina only laughed coldly. “English, you short son of a bitch, do you speak it?”

Her witticism earned her a harsh slap across her face from the man. Spitting out his cigar, he groused dangerously, “You filthy little harlot…you’ll be wise to watch your tongue before I cut it right out of your mouth.”

“Oooooh, _big_ threats from a _little_ man,” Selina joked at his expense one last time, but it was short-lived. The burly henchman raised a tight fist, and he beat her mercilessly across the back of her head. She fell unconscious immediately, and just when she hit the floor, the short man bent and ripped her mask off her face.

Her long, wavy blonde hair about her face, curtaining her cheeks while she lay there completely still. The short man glanced up at his lackey, and he let out a deep chuckle. “Pretty little hell cat, isn’t she?”

His henchman only nodded, and then leaned down to scoop Selina off the floor. As he walked past his superior, the short man gazed about the room and spat to himself, “If she weren’t so beautiful, I’d slice her face off for messing with Oswald Cobblepot myself.”

(***’’***”)

Selina heard muffled voices all around as she slowly came to. The air around her felt chilly, and she groaned as she tried shifting into a more comfortable position. One wasn’t available, she soon found out…it felt as though her arms were being tugged upwards, and she had to wonder why…

And why was it so damn cold?!?

Opening her eyes as widely as she could, she tilted her head back and looked up at her hands. In terror, she found them to be bound and held up with thick rope. She then panicked and glanced down, emitting a tiny scream. The reason why she’d been so cold was because she was covered in sweat, but she’d also been reduced to wearing only her dark bra on her upper torso. Thankfully, she was still wearing the lower half of her body suit, but the top had been shredded clean off.

Shaking in anger, Selina demanded potently, “LET ME GO!! YOU SICK, PERVERTED BASTARD!!”

Across the strepitant, smoke-filled room, the short man whose name she’d never heard stood before a group of at least fifteen or so men. They all wore similar clothes as their leader, and they were seated at round tables. Fancy, expensive wine had been passed around, and they snickered, clearly enjoying her plight once they observed her struggling.

The vicious man who was their leader threw her a scelestic sneer befitting a monster. Sauntering up to her, he rolled back his sleeves, and then snuck a finger beneath her chin. Wrenching her head over to look into his eyes, he wheezed bitterly, “Glad you’re awake, Princess…sorry for the way you are dressed, but I find that the best form of a lashing works wonders on bare skin.”

Not completely understanding yet, Selina fought against her bindings. It was useless, and she could hardly repress a disgusted groan from escaping her when the short, pudgy man stroked and caressed her delicate skin slowly.

Wagging his finger at her while one of his other henchmen approached him, the man snapped, “Ah, ah!! Fighting is only going to waste your strength away, my pet!” Moving back, the short man extended his arms in an act of jactancy, licking his lips as he snickered. The henchman held out a long, dark whip…specifically, a dangerous looking Cat o’nine tails whip.

Having already obelized whoever the hell this man was, Selina’s eyes grew dark with concern and hatred. “You…you c-can’t…” she rasped, and then swallowed before trying again. Her stomach flip-flopped when the man extended the whip and moved behind her.

One of his spectators produced a new cigar for him, and he held it between his teeth as it was lit.

“Please!” Selina shrieked, “I won’t—”

“Oh, I know you won’t, pet,” the British man obganiated her a few times to the point where she felt as though her nerves were on fire…and they likely were.

Gasping in pain, she held back tears, but the cruel man already caught them. Cooing at her in mock pity and empathy, he tightened the ropes as he sang out, “I would apologize for the obdormition you’re likely suffering through, but I don’t appreciate someone pawing at what’s _mine_.” Walking around Selina in small circles like a shark, his rutilant eyes wandered along her slender body almost salaciously.

Shaking his head at her, he extended the whip as far as it would go, the dangerous, heavy tips just waiting and begging to taste her flesh.

Selina whimpered one last time, closing her eyes once she saw majority of the men in the room pointing and laughing already while thick smoke from their cigars flew up in large clouds. They were having fun at her expense and misery, and Selina’s face slipped into a rufescent demeanor. She tried drowning out their laughter, their cruel susurrus; everything. She wanted to die due to how powerless and mortified she felt.

Sniffling, she whined, “Please, I’ve already lost my dignity here, you worthless piece of—”

WACK!!

The first slash of the whip upon her back had been brutal. Due to how unprepared she’d been for it, she let out a bone-chilling, bloodcurdling scream that echoed and rang into the night and all throughout the mansion. Of course, the men laughed and jeered at the fullest extent of procacity while their leader barked out meaningless things, each of his words blague.

Laughing along heartily with them, the leader sighed, “Oh, I do beg your pardon, pet. I usually don’t forget my manners and ruffianize such sweet little girls, but in your case, I had to make an exception.”

Bringing the whip down on her skin again, the man boisterously laughed harder and louder than any of his companions while they engaged in magniloquent and malacophonous chatter.

WACK!!

Selina screamed until she was blue in the face. Her throat felt parched, sore, and on fire, but there was no way she could contain her cries of sheer suffering.

WACK!!

“I should’ve also introduced myself like a proper gent,” adjusting his glasses, he bent to wipe some sweat off his brow. It was no match at all for the heavy sudation Selina’s body had gone through. Taking his time, the bilious man utilized his sudarium, wiping and dabbing away at his skin with the cloth. When he was through with it, he tossed it to the floor and cleared his throat.

WACK!

“Now then, where were we?” He never ceased cajoling and blandishing her.

WACK!!

Selina saw stars behind her closed eyelids. She’d never known pain like this. Both the room and her mind and body were erupting in quite the ruction; she knew she would soon likely pass out from the pain.

Pointing at himself while he stood closely behind her, the man yelled thickly, “My name is Oswald Cobblepot, you wench!!”

WACK!!!

His men clapped and hooted, encouraging him to do more damage to Selina’s sensitive, soft skin. Howling, the man who’d called himself Oswald threw his head back and joined in the laughter. His vicious hand knew not when to cease; over and over again, the vorpal whip singed and cut through Selina’s back without remorse.

WACK!!

WACK!!

Over and over, the brute force of the whip connected with Selina’s sudorous body until the young woman couldn’t scream or fight back anymore. She felt warm liquids trickling down along the curve of her spine, and she was absolutely certain most of it wasn’t salty sweat alone…

Inhaling deeply, the man suddenly lunged at her. Pinching her ear between his fingers, he strained up on his toes while she slid down to the floor. Taking her earlobe between his sharp teeth, Oswald delightfully announced, “You’re bleeding, kitten…my, my, what’s to be done about that?”

At once, someone voluntarily screamed out clearly, “Bring in the other freak, Sir Cobblepot!! Let them play together!!”

Cheering that man who’d spoken up on delightfully, the rest of the men watching soon chanted together in perfect harmony, “Bring in the freak!! Bring in the freak!! Bring in the freak!!”

Bowing his head in a fatuous manner, Oswald let go of the whip and waved at one of his henchmen. The man knew what to do, and while the rest of the spectators continued their gleeful chanting, he wandered into another room adjacent to the one Selina wanted to escape from.

While he was gone, Oswald danced about before Selina. Twirling around in little circles, he sighed in awe once the door opened again. Someone huffed, and then feet shuffling further and further in sounded amidst the baneful chanting. Taking a puff from his cigar, Oswald blew out the thick, grey clouds of smoke, and he then cackled like a dispiteous demon.

Eyes shining in pure maliciousness, he bowed yet again as a shadow crept up before Selina.

“Oooh, wonderful,” Oswald’s deep voice rang out at the height of satisfaction. With a much-dignified bow meant for mockery more than anything else, the stout man squawked at the peak of his altiloquence, “Your playmate’s almost arrived.”

She didn’t understand his loquacious meaning due to how weak she felt. Her vision was fading in and out, much like her hearing, but she did manage to take in the sounds of Oswald chuckling maliciously.

“Send in the… _clown_.”

Trembling in fear and anger, Selina had one more fight left in her. As soon as she glanced up, however, the color left her face, and all her blood drained from her upper torso. Pooling somewhere deeply in her feet, possibly, she felt even colder and weaker once her wet, tear-filled eyes caught sight of who it was knelt down at her feet.

Bound and gagged on the bright red carpet, clear as day and night was Arthur Fleck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Selina knows who it is, and so does everyone reading this Dx


	18. Lost In Corruption

The bombastic laughter and cheering had gone on for another twenty minutes as Selina was cruelly whipped. Arthur had been present for the entire ordeal, and anytime he tried glancing away from the abhorrent sight of it, Oswald would kick him into submission. The short man enjoyed mocking and torturing both Selina and Arthur, it seemed. Hoisting the female up higher, he tightened her bindings so much that Selina felt the rope cutting viciously into her skin. Circulation was practically cut off at this point as her toes dangled half an inch above the carpet, but that only pleased Oswald significantly.

He beat and whipped her continuously until her skin was beyond sore, red, and had risen in welts. The swollen flesh stung deeply, and he finally stopped when Selina couldn’t cry anymore. The young woman had grown numb from the neck down, and even when a light, gentle breeze blew against her back, she couldn’t feel anything. She’d been clawing and embedding her fingernails so deeply into the skin of the palm of her hand that she’d started bleeding there in small streams. It was a means of causing pain to form in a new area of the body so she could be able to ignore and possibly forget the pain rising and stinging in her back…

While Arthur gaped openly at her, Oswald seemed to finally cease showing an interest in beating Selina. Putting out his cigar, he announced, “This has grown tedious, friends!” Snapping his fingers, he beckoned for two men to approach, and one of them began untying Selina’s bindings. The other held her up by the waist, and they dragged her out of the little room.

“Oy,” Oswald grunted at Arthur when his pain and grief-stricken eyes followed the men moving Selina away. Rubbing his round, abdominous lower half, Oswald practically waddled over to where Arthur remained kneeling. “That your girlfriend there, mate?” he chuckled coldly, not at all interested enough to wait for a reply. “I relished in the fear and pain reflected in your eyes whenever I beat her, and there’s enough there to tell me you have feelings for her…”

Wanting to rub it in now that he had the upper hand, Oswald maliciously snickered while he leaned into Arthur until mere inches separated them. Huskily, he exclaimed with a manipulative air lingering in his words, “You _do_ have feelings for her, don’t you?”

Arthur nervously twitched in response, and as he did, Oswald’s friends and guests began filing out of the room. While they all exited while chuckling and drinking down the last bits of their alcohol, another large security guard hoisted Arthur up onto his feet.

Standing back, Oswald nodded firmly. “Lucky for you I’m also a man who enjoys the company of womenfolk!” Loudly, he crowed at his lackey, “Throw him in with the kitten and let them play.”

Arthur’s tension wasn’t at all abirritated by this idea. Still, he practically jogged down the halls as the lackey followed him, eventually stopping before a dark door. Unlocking it, he threw Arthur inside without another word and locked the door after tossing him in unceremoniously.

Scrambling to get back onto his feet, Arthur blinked against the poor lighting in the room and held back on a pained cry when he noticed Selina strung up like a puppet. Her hands had still been tied with a thick rope on a long, large horizontal bar that extended from one side of the holding room to the other. Her feet dangled in the air way above the floor, and she didn’t appear to be moving.

Voice wavering, Arthur inched closer to her, though he didn’t make any move to touch her to cause her pain or discomfort. He blinked rapidly, limbs cold and trembling as his fingers shook and curled. Once or twice, he made a move to just tap her, but then he abruptly decided against it and kept his hands to himself. Emitting a strained cry of despair, he shook his head, and then clutched at it with both hands.

Whimpering, he bemoaned softly, “Fuck…fuck…S-Selina…fuck!!”

Silence was his only answer for a moment, and he nearly lost himself to another round of sobs amid the tacent, depressive ambience.

Suddenly, an insouciant voice drawled coldly, “Sage words spoken after so long, Fleck.”

Lifting his head up, Arthur squeaked out in shock, “Selina?! Selina??!?”

“That’s my name, Fleck, don’t wear it out or I’ll make you buy me a new one.” Shifting her feet, Selina growled down at him, “What’re you doing here, anyway?” Though she still winced and flinched in pain, she was at least alert, perspicuous, and cognizant, but it all caused Arthur to sputter numbly at her, nonetheless.

When he couldn’t answer her on time, Selina snorted, “You haven’t changed much…it’s been…what? Almost three and a half months, though?” Passively, she snapped, “I can’t say you look good.” That comment didn’t do much to abirritate the mounting tension and concern from Arthur, but Selina frankly had no idea what to make of him.

Since the last time she’d seen him and been in his presence, Arthur had gained at least five or so pounds, roughly. His cheeks were a bit fuller, and he closely resembled his own photograph taken back in 1981 when he’d first been admitted into Arkham State Hospital. His hair remained the same, though springing up from the black roots were light green shades…perhaps he’d tried coloring it again to revert to ‘Joker’…

His skin was clear, though he’d been growing out a pretty decent stubble. His five o’clock shadow was quite prominent, but if Selina knew Arthur Fleck well, she supposed he’d kept it growing not out of necessity, but out of the sheer logical fact that he hadn’t been able to tend to it due to likely being Oswald’s prisoner for heaven knew how long.

But that still begged the question as to what he was doing here…

Staying on that target, Selina scowled at him as she icily droned on, “You’re working with them now, hmm? Piss poor choice if you ask me.”

Her blatant sarcasm struck a chord within him, and Arthur frowned before shaking his head. “No,” he renounced, “not working with them! Never would!!”

Growling, Selina snapped viciously, “Oh yeah? Then why are you here?” She didn’t believe in coincidences, not by a long shot. Gotham City was a rather large place, and for her, it was highly improbable that he’d just been in the right place at the right time. She wanted nothing more than to abnegate that concept, so she did.

Waiting on him, she ignored the blatant fact that he’d witnessed her at her lowest form; being beaten within an inch of her life and in her bra, no more, no less.

Fantastic.

Arthur offered her something of a pained grimace, but the look she returned to him was far from absolutory. Her importunate, absonant attitude soon got the better of her, and she blurted out loud inelegantly, “Maybe you’re their messenger boy, then?”

He glared daggers at her, but it didn’t disparage her in the least bit. She tried again smoothly, “Or perhaps you’re their court Jester!! Either way, I think this job suits you best—”

“He said he had some important information and documents my f-father left behind for me!” Arthur’s boisterous, perspicacious, clipped outburst enforced Selina to shut right up. She wasn’t certain whether he was making references to his real father, or Thomas Wayne, but she wasn’t entirely interested in negotiating that matter right now.

Curling her nose up in the air snobbishly, she didn’t allow for the odd listlessness flowing throughout her body to take over. “So?” she cut in dryly, “he could’ve said many things to you, doesn’t mean you gotta believe it.”

Slamming a hand down in annoyance, Arthur groused, “He s-said he knew Thomas Wayne! My real father!!”

“I don’t care if he said he knew Big Bird and the entire Sesame Street gang!” Selina shrieked, half in pain, half in anger. “You were stupid enough to trust him, and now we’re _both_ in trouble!!”

Clearly, that got to Arthur in the worst of ways. Hardly blinking, he acidly bit out, “I trusted you as well, Selina…that was stupid too, right?”

….

That bastard.

She knew he had a point, but she was far too weary and lightheaded to argue with him. Still, rather than allowing his acidulous words and demeanor get the better of her, Selina conserved all her energy for her last ‘escape’. Remaining optimistic throughout the procellous atmosphere, she only snorted down at him, “Well, whatever. As far as I’m concerned, we’re not even supposed to be talking to each other, so I’m going to make good on my escape while you mope about here as much as you like.”

Head perking up, Arthur’s interest was suddenly piqued. “What do you mean?” he inquired gently, flinching and shaking every time the tremulous sounds and vibrations of laughter rang out from the other side of the walls outside the room they were locked away in.

Administering her own control and channeling it to clamp her long, slender thighs together tightly, Selina hissed between clenched teeth, “Watch and learn, Fleck.” Trying not to show off extravagantly, she raised both her clothed legs upwards until her body was bent at a fifty-degree angle. High heeled shoes held straightly before herself, she still inclined her midriff and lower half upwards as best as she could. Abs tightened and flexed, but she still raised her lower torso higher. Soon, due to her efforts, her knees almost touched the tip of her nose. Her heels made direct contact with her fingers, and even though she was still bound, Selina twitched her digits towards her heels.

Snickering while Arthur sputtered away in confusion, she supplied elegantly, “Men; they can never do a job you actually give them.” Twisting her right ankle as much and as far as she could, she reached forward with her middle and index finger and dipped her ankle back. Something flashed there beneath the lights, and as Arthur kept observing her closely, Selina withdrew a hidden switchblade from the confines of her booted heel. She’d cleverly concealed the object in the zipper lining of her boot, and she yanked it out quickly. Flicking it open, then, she moved it back and forth to cut away at the rope. After a few minutes, the rope slipped and snapped apart in two. Selina came tumbling down, landing gracefully on both her feet.

Extending her arms, she smirked triumphantly, “Taaadaaa!!”

Arthur shook his head, still buried in the midst of his awe and confusion. Though he had no words for her, Selina didn’t need them.

Searching around the room thoroughly, she wandered over to a few hooks in the wall supporting a black leather jacket. It was a few sizes too big for her, but she’d already adjudged and pronounced it effective enough to drape over her upper body. It hung over her tiny limbs by comparison, making her look too small.

As she grazed past Arthur, who was still sputtering at her on the floor, she waved a hand carelessly at him. “Well, see ya later, bozo. Wish I could say it’s been fun.” She gracefully leapt on top of a few boxes, never bearing her weight down on them for long enough in case they fell and made noises. Espying a window near the door, Selina had been aiming for it, when Arthur finally shifted.

Waving his arms frantically at her, he panted breathlessly, “Selina! You can’t just leave me here!!”

Eyes holding and projecting a breme regard for the man she’d unfortunately grown to dislike, Selina had to pause for a moment. Had time really been so bad to them both? Had it made it so that their friendship, their feelings, all of it had been soured?

…Possibly. Nothing was the same, at first, but then Selina felt true umbrage and awe when she gazed into Arthur’s eyes. She saw herself glaring back…a more childish, innocent version of herself.

“You…you can’t leave me,” came his broken, fearful statement, shooting her right in the heart.

Emitting a strained sigh that made her throat tighten and her vocal cords feel as though they were inflamed, Selina shook her head. “Fine, but this is the _last_ time I help you, Fleck…” Gently easing herself off the wall leading up to the windowsill, she tiptoed over to him and once again held the sharp knife she’d concealed away all along. With one long swipe, she cut away at his bindings, and then nodded curtly at him.

Rubbing his wrists, Arthur gently pondered aloud, “Y-you’re leaving?”

“None of your concern,” she quickly prodded before turning around and heading back towards the windowsill.

Following her closely, Arthur desperately yelled, “Selina, you’re hurt! You won’t make it!! Please, let me help you!!”

Glaring at him over her shoulder, she hissed thinly, “I said mind your own damn business, Fleck!!” She ducked when he tried grabbing onto the collar of her jacket, growling at him in a low warning. “Don’t touch me! Get lost, now!!”

Shaking his head stubbornly, he persisted, “Selina, you’re bleeding, and you won’t even be able to take ten steps out there before you faint!”

Waving him off while shaking her head despondently, Selina again tried diving for the window. She’d barely grazed her fingers along the cold glass, when her vision slowly started to fade. Blinking, she gasped, “I’m…I…ughh…” Her eyes rolled back into her head, and her entire body started to grow numb. Slowly, she fell tumbling down into the boxes. 

Right before she blacked out, she felt warm hands on her gently holding her, and in response, her small hand darted out and hooked onto something. Whatever it was, the object didn’t feel human; it was smooth and cold.

Selina’s world completely turned to darkness.

(***’’***”)

_Arthur sat in the right-hand corner of his room. The walls were pure white, which matched his uniform. At first, he’d found the color to be ebullient since it represented nothing. It didn’t even give him grief or a headache, and he’d enjoyed it. After spending many long hours locked away in his room, however, Arthur suffered greatly. He’d lost track of time, spending majority of his days and nights wandering aimlessly. He lost track of how often he’d titubate about, achieving nothing while giggling emptily into the air._

_Any therapist who’d seen him commented on something about him experiencing a state of cachexic, otherwise known as having an unhealthy physical or mental state. Well, that was highly obvious whenever he would cachinnate and guffaw randomly without provocation._

_His therapist never could understand precisely what the matter was, and his opinion fluctuated and differed per week. At one time, Arthur had experienced the calumny of being informed he was schizophrenic. Another moment, he had borderline personality disorder. When one psychiatrist couldn’t handle him, he was soon visited by a new one. As he went through experiencing tremendous bouts of calvary, it didn’t matter much to them so long as they got their hours and received their remuneration. Each therapist always seemed just as confused about him as the previous one._

_It never changed, this dystopia._

_Their main aim wasn’t ever to truly ‘help him’; it was to rise to personal fame and personal glory, for to understand the mysterious, peculiar ‘Joker’ would make anyone of high value and interest, especially before the eyes of the media. The greedy media of course was filled with nothing but cantor. Misinformation constantly spreading about ‘Joker’ and Arthur Fleck never ceased to amaze him. Had they even been listening to the interview he had on the Murray Franklin show??_

_...No. The answer was always a solid ‘no’. How industrious._

_Any work anyone in social services did was only for the purposes of recognition and achieving accolades and merits for themselves and their reputation. It was all mere captation; to obtain applause and grief of another person. How could he expect it of a captious society, anyway? All they knew how to do was fling demeaning insults back and forth, slander each other, attack, and judge anyone and anything they didn’t want to take time with or bother understanding._

_Sickening. Disgraceful._

_Hilarious. It never once put him in as much of a foul mood as it did with his therapists. The carnaptious, cantankerous monsters posing as humans were easy to ignore, though. As long as he had and kept a sense of humor, it was well worth the trouble._

_No one wanted to trust in causistry, but he’d been open to it for a long, long time. It wasn’t cataphysical to him...ever. He found he welcomed and enjoyed each cataclasm thrown his way with open arms while grinning from ear to ear. The cautelous Arthur Fleck always remained duteous and persistent in how funny life was, in his beliefs._

_He always kept a durative smile on his face, eyes chatoyant regardless of his own thoughts. Time had been passed easier that way._

_Oh, how he loved to laugh. The art of chicanery came like a breath of fresh air to him, and he constantly made sure to employ it well._

_Since they could never reach a solid conclusion, they’d put him on at least eight different medications. Arthur considered this a true ‘win’, and he constantly cheered himself on because of it. His therapists didn’t share in that mindset, and since they never subscribed to it, they hardly chirked him on. All they were good at was damnification, however._

_He was bounced around from one doctor to the next, medication changing rapidly, sometimes even bi-monthly. Yet he never forgot to laugh and smile. He constantly did just that...until the nightmares and visions arrived like gifts from hell._

_They were quite unforgiving and dapocaginous._

_They appeared to him in the midst of the clamancy of his emotions, and in the form of both cruel memories, and treacherous imaginings. Perhaps they were messages sent to him from another realm, or perhaps they were just by-products of all the medication he’d introduced to his system, coupled with his own personal cataclysmic suffering and failure._

_Whatever the case, whatever the explanation, all he knew for certain was that they hurt him...they even spoke out to him sometimes..._

_“Happy...I miss when it was just the two of us together...life was so simple back then...” Penny Fleck’s gentle voice hit his ears. Dulciloquent in her speech and presentation, her words were highly dulcifluous...as he remembered they were whenever she wanted to get something from someone..._

_Yes...life was indeed simple back when he had no idea of what kind of a beast his mother was. Playing the role of the uninformed, complaisant son had guaranteed him safety. She’d never been candid with him in what she did with men, but Arthur eventually learned. It was quite a travesty coming to terms with the cold, hard fact that his mother often kept men around because she wanted to use them; not because she loved them. She’d always falsely promised Arthur that one of these days, he would be re-united with his father._ _He hadn’t known it at the time, but that had all been_ _falsidical. Her words conveyed false meanings, and within that falsiloquence came Arthur’s dedication to willful ignorance._

_He remained ignorant so much and for so long, that he lost a true sense of who he was. His mother had never allowed him to do other things boys his own age had. She claimed he was so special. Arthur believed it, but secretly, deep inside, he was so jealous of the other boys and girls at school. They all had more friends than he did, they had fathers, and they had happy homes to go to._

_He just wanted to be liked and accepted by them. He soon took up an echo-like repetition of their words, and then an echo-like repetition of their actions. What was he even doing?? He didn’t know. All he felt was that for a moment, people paid attention to him, people liked having him around, and that felt great. He was finally accepted for the first time after what felt like years spent imprisoned. It was the familic state he longed to have and possess, and that’s what he supposed he’d been gifted with._

_But then his ‘condition’ took over. It seemed like a matter of waking up one morning and feeling fine, only to lose all hope gradually. One moment, he was enjoying every opportune, propitious experience, and then the next, his world turned black and red. Arthur could also feel the ground beneath himself on fire, and yet his feet were cold and frozen. Since then, nothing remained the same._

_“Happy,” Penny’s wavering voice called out to him once more from afar. When he glanced up, his black eyebrows furrowed. She was standing right there before him, wearing a white gown almost resembling a wedding dress, if he didn’t know any better. Her long, sandy-colored hair only fed into making her pale complexion appear almost angelic, but he was no fool._

_This woman wasn’t an angel. Not in the least bit._

_Holding his burning cigarette between two stained fingers, he ground out dangerously, “Happy? That’s not me. Hasn’t been me for a long, long time.” Blowing out smoke purposefully into her face even though he was certain she was a mere phantom, he croaked, “You never knew me, did you? You just cared about yourself, like the rest of them.”_

_Eyes turning dark, cold, and malicious, all the rancor, hate, and envy swarmed into his brain. Like little bugs and insects, he felt the same thoughts and urges of getting rid of her almost overpowering him. It rendered him speechless for a moment, but he knew he yearned for nothing else other than to bash her face into the blasted white walls that had boxed him into all this madness and agony._

_If he hurt her, it would be fine; he wouldn’t need to hurt himself anymore. The world had already hurt him plenty, and he wasn’t sure how much more of it he was supposed to take._

_Bitterly, he drawled out, “You let that man abuse me for weeks, and you never told anyone about it.” Fingers nearly squashed the cigarette even now as he reminisced about it._

_Penny Fleck’s eyes filled to the brim with tears as she extended her arms towards him and sobbed brokenly. “My boy, my sweet boy, you’re so handsome…”_

_He’d had enough of her ostentatious nonsense. He was no longer that gaminesque little person wandering around without a clue while he clutched onto her and followed her like a shadow. He was tremendously self-aware, now, and at the peak of his lucidity._

_Wagging a finger at her, he softly chuckled, “You’re very interesting, mother!!” As he cooed and wriggled his toes almost innocently, his ‘mother’ glared at him._

_Taken aback by what he’d stated so brazenly, Penny shook her head while crying loudly, “You’re still my precious angel, Happy…nothing’s going to change that!”_

_“Soooo manipulative, mother,” Arthur almost sang out in an odd off-tune manner. “You are always nice to people when you want and need something from them, but when you get what it is you want, then you show your true face.”_

_Holding her hands up to her own face, his mother’s hair slid into her eyes and curtained about her face. Though from a distance, she almost took on a unique, floriform shape, Arthur wasn’t fooled. He’d permitted and trusted her plenty along the years to fool him, and he wasn’t going to stand for it any longer._

_Eyes almost filled to the brim with hate reserved especially for her, Arthur icily bit out, “Take off your mask, mother.”_

_Take it off…take it all off._

_She soon disappeared into thin air, leaving him all alone in the middle of the padded cell with nothing but a tiny mirror resting right over the smooth surface of a dark stool. Glumly, Arthur edged closer and closer to the mirror, inspecting it with a deceitful expression plastered onto his face. He saw nothing at first; the mirror had been fogged up and brumous so much that he could hardly see much of anything._

_But he knew he wasn’t alone._

_Disturbingly, the dolose Penny Fleck appeared in the mirror as he remained glaring and scowling away at it. While trembling, her halitous breath came panting out, causing the mirror to fog up in a haunting, eerie manner. She was the source for such evil…_

_Weakly, she rebuked, “A m-m-mask?” Pausing, she took a moment as though sampling the words before sputtering, “Happy, th-this isn’t a m-mask!”_

_Again, her hot breath fogged up the smooth glass, and it did much in the way of frustrating an already irate, agitated Arthur. Soon, he would explode, and it would Penny’s fault…it always was her fault, anyway._

_Persistently, Penny’s putrid breath panted and heaved out, much like a fire-breathing dragon. Through he no longer feared her as he once had in his carefree, yet troubled youth, she still held some sway over him. Her presence so near his own body was enough to ensure nauseant sensations swirling about within Arthur, almost to the extent of smothering him._

_Glaring resolutely at her, Arthur spat strongly, “Leave me alone!! Go away!!”_

_More heavy, labored panting emanated next to his ear. It only served to add on to the growing, throbbing tension boiling in the room. Blood aflame like lava, saliva flew from his lips in a drizzle as he snarled, “LEAVE ME ALONE!!” Standing abruptly, Arthur lost all semblances of his control. A fist jabbed out, landing a perfectly aimed, malefic punch right for the center of the mirror. Knuckles met the glass, and everything exploded powerfully. It was then raining beautiful shards of glass, the bits pouring down like a deadly waterfall no one could swim in. Pooling all around Arthur’s legs, the glass crunched when he stepped away from the mirror and stool._

_Atop it on the seat sat a young Arthur glaring right back at the adult version of himself. This child appeared bewildered and in a catatonic state. Bruises and cuts littered his skin, and prominent bags under his eyes gave him a sickly look._

_“You are alone, Happy,” his mother’s malacophonous, disembodied voice teased like a bilious fever growing all across his body. The maliferous woman snickered almost innocently, leaving adult Arthur to gape at his child-like self. The young boy with shortly cropped light brown hair and piercing cobalt eyes scowled aggressively at him, practically rendering Arthur defenseless and vulnerable all at once._

_Covering his eyes with his hands, he shamefully and mournfully bemoaned, “D-don’t look at me!! I’m s-sorry, okay?! I’m sorry!!”_

_He had no idea what he was even apologizing for; he only knew he was sorry, and that was the only word he knew, now. Oh, how those burning hot eyes scorched his very flesh, almost as though someone had placed hot, sizzling coal directly onto his skin._

_Would he ever be able to escape from himself?_

_While he pondered this to himself, the pieces of the mirror he’d shattered all slowly slithered back up into their rightful place. As though time had been reversed and rewound, all the bits and shards glued themselves back right into the center of the tiny mirror, and then it propped itself back up before Arthur’s eyes._

_This time, when he peered into it, he saw ‘Joker’ smiling back at him. Icily, his pale makeup, red eyebrows slanted, and a red, exaggerated bright smile sat glaring back. The little blue triangle designs extending and hanging both above his brow ridge and beneath his eyelids appeared to be as blue as the sky. Joker tried out another_ _subdolous smile, teeth flashing as he dipped his head back and guffawed at everything and nothing._

_“Hahahahaha!”_


	19. Paper Tiger

_“So, what can you tell me about the difference between Arthur Fleck, and ‘Joker’?”_

_A heavy, pregnant silence soared about in the room, practically choking all those within it. Cigarette smoke blue and grey in color wafted high above, rather ill-mannered as it clouded and shrouded over any frame of thought, action, or hope._

_A shrill, captious voice soon spoke out to him. “Surely you must know something…”_

_Shaking his head in an unseemly fashion, Arthur resorted to giggling almost too softly for the human ear to capture. Lips twitching, he took a deep puff from his cigarette while slowly exhaling through flared nostrils. The glabrous face of a young man sat across from himself at a plastic, white table. The man had his fingers and hands clasped together, a friendly and approachable smile gracing his features. He remained calm, tranquil, and supposedly amicable._

_But Arthur knew better. He’d seen plenty of scaly, slimy monsters, each of them not at all martinets adhering to the rules of society. They were just good at playing the game better than he knew how to play it, and that was why they bullied and rejected him. Dr. Jonathan Crane was such a man, proper and perhaps dignified by a University degree in medicine and psychiatry, but beneath that charade, he was one of the bleakest, darkest monsters._

_Overnight, it seemed all his lived and doctored horrors that had once agrized and plagued his mind he once foolishly assumed as dead were revived. Withering away with the winds of novelty, he felt their poisonous grasps and sedition melt his hopes, dreams, and feelings of self-worth. This was worse than any cancer people could experience…there was no antidote…no cure…_

_Yes, perhaps misery and pain would interminably calumniate and besmirch him, chasing him to the ends of the Earth and back. Just because fate was a fickle bitch, too._

_Tapping and drumming his stick-like fingers over the table among the dreary silence, Dr. Crane finally withdrew a patient file from a briefcase. Placing it out before himself, he adjusted his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose. Inhaling almost too softly, he maundered aloud, “You know what I see, Mr. Fleck?” Not even waiting for a reply, he answered his own question._

_“I see sitting there before me a person on the borderline between sanity and insanity.”_

_Arthur’s eyes turned melanic. He knew Dr. Crane was attempting to communicate in a mellisonant manner, but Arthur knew that this individual would never sound melliloquent, no matter what. In fact, he was more mesquin than before, even through a cutting, biting smile meant to create alamort feelings stirring within Arthur._

_Ignoring his therapist’s lutulent gaze, Arthur only murmured, “Sanity and insanity are as subjective as comedy, Dr. Crane. What I find to be ‘insane’ is warm, funny, and beautiful, and what you label as ‘insane’ is something you’re afraid of.”_

_Those words seemed to only thrill and delight his psychiatrist. As though Christmas had arrived early, Dr. Crane leaned forward, tilting his head while a wide, crazed look appeared onto his face. His features morphed into something shocking, but he didn’t relent. Fingers hooked onto the table, and he sighed almost fantastically._

_“Fear and oblivion are parts of what I find make life so much more worth living, Arthur…” Grin changing into something lusory, he cooed like a dove, “Everything in this world is only thriving because of an inherent fear. It’s a lifelong process, you see, and through that cycle of fear, we establish great goals for ourselves.”_

_Silence stretched and panned out between them, and Arthur’s cigarette burning served as a testament to how much time had passed in silence. Dr. Crane appeared to relish in the quiet, however. It was a mere instrument for furthering and bettering his advanced methods and techniques of total manipulation._

_With much risible contempt evident in his demeanor in spite of how caritative he feigned being, he lectured, “Oh yes, I know it’s tough to think about it like that, Mr. Fleck, but what I say is the truth!” Gesturing enough to highlight the importance of his statement by squishing and making pinching motions with his index finger and thumb pressed together, he explained, “Whatever we do, we do out of fear. For example, you go to the doctor not because you want to be healthy; you visit a doctor out of an inherent fear of getting sick and suffering.”_

_Unmoving, Arthur sneered while listening on._

_“You work hard out of a fear of not having money and receiving payment, and why do we need payment? Because we are afraid of living a life without the comforts of a mollitious lifestyle.” Incessantly, he droned on, “We seek out a romantic partner for ourselves not because we enjoy them and want to fornicate…but because we are afraid of growing old alone without a companion at our side.”_

_The room had suddenly grown chilly, now, but Arthur didn’t bat a single eyelash. He just allowed Dr. Crane to keep going, and the man did._

_Leaning back in his chair, he sighed emphatically, “As you can see, we do many, many things out of a necessity of avoiding what we fear the most. Fear is the key; it’s the driving force, Mr. Fleck.”_

_Arthur didn’t buy into the bizarre doctor’s words. Glaring away at him oddly, he commented snidely, “Since I lost my mother, I stopped living in fear! Since I learned to laugh, I stopped feeling fear!!” Boisterously, he cried, “You can’t tell me that this is all because of fear!! I haven’t felt that since I was a little boy!”_

_Nodding, Dr. Crane chimed in with, “I know you’re no longer a little boy, Mr. Fleck, but I firmly believe that parts of that little boy are still trapped within your mind.” Pointing at his chest, he exclaimed with zeal, “You can’t lie to me and tell me that in the depth of your heart, you still don’t hear that little boy’s voice crying out…”_

_Eyes turning bleak and shimmering with malice, he added, “…What about all those times you were beaten and suffered through severe forms of psychalgia? Hmm? Wasn’t that a sample of fear? Wasn’t the sweat, blood, and tears enough in the way of evidence pointing to the fact that you were always a scared little boy?”_

_…._

_No. Arthur knew very well what this man was trying to do. He was supremely evil, and it no longer mystified Arthur. Gone were his days of raw confusion and grief. He’d already done well enough to welcome joyous laughter, and it was that very same laughter that soon billowed out of him like a cacophony of war._

_War through a smile…killing them with kindness…_

_Wiping his eyes as the tears flooded his eyelashes, he merrily sang out, “When you laugh at yourself long enough, you will become a better, stronger person!!” Waving his arms about as far as his handcuffs and bindings would allow, he practically conducted his own ‘symphony’ raging and playing inside his mind, his cigarette serving as the baton._

_Throwing his head back, he emitted an elated sigh, followed by a crisp laugh. “I can laugh at myself, Dr. Crane; maybe you should learn how to laugh at yourself, too.”_

_The sweet, intoxicating feelings of methysis removed any trickle of doubts, worries, or pain. While Dr. Crane sat still, clearly dejected, Arthur cackled at the serene joy he felt washing over himself. It was an onslaught of passion and royal happiness, just in the same way he’d felt it when he emancipated himself from his overbearing, abusive mother, and just when he’d liberated himself on live television during the Murray Franklin show._

_He was free._

_Somehow, however, while he got drowned in his own vibrant laughter, a less than cheerful Dr. Crane hummed. The sound and resonance of such a deep, rich tone soon overpowered Arthur’s laughter. Arthur hated that he could hear that stupid humming, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop it._

_Stroking his own chin with mirth aplenty shining forth in his eyes, Dr. Crane pantomimed a glum appearance. His crestfallen, dismal demeanor soon was highly exaggerated as he sighed dramatically, “I do feel sorry for you, Mr. Fleck; you won’t have anyone around to love you, I fear.”_

_…._

_Love? What did that word mean again? As far as he knew, it meant treachery, lies, deceit, and pain. Love was nothing but a desolate, gloomy feeling, and he no longer wished to be miserable enough to experience it. However, rather than having the courage or stamina to agnize it both out loud to Dr. Crane and to himself, Arthur just shrugged as standoffishly as he could._

_He never knew how he’d managed it, especially considering how when he’d been later sent back to his room, he nearly bashed his face into the walls. He wanted to color those damn walls red with his own life essence, and no one was going to stop him. What was the point, anyway? If no one loved him, then perhaps it was better to just ‘go out’ as Joker instead of the pathetic, measly Arthur Fleck._

_They were different men, yet they weren’t. Arthur Fleck was a militaster; a soldier fighting a war without weapons, and without skill. He was everything his mother once said he shouldn’t have been. He was a milquetoast, he floundered in mimetic acts, and he knew he wouldn’t be more than a mere shadow of what he longed to be. But this lifestyle comprised of a derision of broken hopes and dreams, of nothing short of mimature as so much more than what Arthur Fleck wanted for himself._

_Longing for more had been part of what caused ‘Joker’ to rescue him. He had to rescue himself through methods of how easily his mind would be able to confabulate._

_Joker was different; Joker was everything Arthur Fleck wasn’t. Joker was confident, brazen, daring, suave, polished, refined, dignified, impeccably deviant, and best of all, he didn’t give a fuck about the rules._

_Arthur liked Joker more than he’d ever liked himself. He was certain that perhaps a lot of people wouldn’t like Joker as much as he himself had, but therein lay the beauty of such a difficult, impossible creature to be understood. Joker demanded for nothing more than misunderstandings, of course, and he was happy to welcome them into his life._

_If no one was going to listen, it didn’t matter anymore. They would all get what they fucking deserved one way or another, anyway._

_But the errant Dr. Crane had struck a chord within Arthur, and there was no way the emotionally drained and damaged man was able to deny it. He couldn’t avoid it, though he tried. The inescapable fact of reality was one that even Joker yearned for in the depth of his heart._

_Like the famous operatic clown Canio in Pagliacci, Arthur longed to feel loved, cherished, valued, needed, and desired, but it never happened for him. Perhaps he was unworthy, perhaps the day would arrive far later for him, and perhaps it never even existed. Whatever the case, much like Canio, Arthur sometimes danced about while singing in both Italian and English: La commedia è finita! – “The comedy is finished!”_

_And it was for his loveless, pitiless life._

_…._

_Until the day he’d met Selina Kyle._

(***’’***”)

_And just what exactly had Arthur Fleck been expecting when the furious, saucy blonde-haired young female pranced into his room unannounced, uninvited? Nothing in terms of what he’d been prepared for. She’d surprised him, to say the least. While the lugubrious man hadn’t been gifted the luxury of receiving company too often, the last thing he’d anticipated from the young woman was a vicious luctation._

_She had asked him a rather odd question he hadn’t even heard coming from guards, orderlies, and his therapists._

_“Why’re you dancing?”_

_He was certain that it was all a dream. They’d loaded him up with medication only days ago, and he could’ve cast this all off as his overactive imagination lashing out in a rebuttal. Only, why was he dreaming of such a gentle creature? By contrast, all his nightmares and perverse thoughts never entertained him in such ways…_

_“What’re you celebrating? Your birthday?”_

_Mildly intrigued by her testy and haughty attitude, he slipped into a lucripetous, knackish mood, himself. At first, he’d only wanted to toy with her a little for his own personal amusement, and then toss her out when he’d grown weary of her. He’d foolishly assumed she was as banal and insipid as all the others who wrote to him demanding interviews, information for movies and books, and a few curious goons who just wanted to poke and prod at him as though he were some caged circus freak._

_Arthur had wrongly assumed this odd young woman was the same way with similar motivation, right until he took a good look at her. He felt she was the most gorgeous creature in the world when he took in her entire body from head to toe. She was truly spectacular and marvelous, and all her physical features were in proportion and in the right places he enjoyed seeing in any woman._

_…And then she’d scratched him. She’d actually scratched him like a cat, and Arthur’s heart was on fire. If he’d previously reserved his judgements for only thinking she was the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the earth, now he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was radiant, magnificent, and perfect for him._

_But he hadn’t had the chance to learn her name. As it unfortunately happened, his condition cut in, and he’d laughed his way through his own personal confession that even though she was much, much younger than he was, he found her interesting and appealing enough for a friendship to begin. He of course didn’t wish to frighten her off by declaring more than mere friendship. As his mother had done and said, if he played his cards right, he too could get what he wanted._

_And Arthur knew he wanted this young woman as a companion and partner. Just her nearness alone was paregoric enough for him, and she was far better than taking any medication in the world. He only wanted to voice to her that he found her worthy, but there was no winning that battle when he was doubling down in laughter he had no control over. Again, she’d lashed out, but it roused all five of his senses._

_What was her name??? Would he even get a chance to learn it? He hadn’t thought so due to the way the nosy Dr. Crane had interfered well before anything could happen, but for some reason, Arthur had a feeling she would return. Somehow, he sensed she was a kindred spirit; she understood him. She would return, and he sat by and counted the days until she had._

_She always visited him when she needed something, he caught onto quickly. The patient file, first, and then only when he’d beckoned her and had requested of Dr. Crane to make sure she showed up. But what was her true angle in all this? He longed to know, but she purposefully withheld information from him, and her own true personality. Although a bit slow mentally and socially, Arthur had observed people well enough and long enough as a party clown and a professional entertainer to decipher the codes and read the signs._

_She gave him plenty._

_He could tell that she was shy, reserved, and extra cautious around him. She never said too much, nor did she reveal her truest emotions. He didn’t mind, just as long as she gave him her real name._

_…She did. Contrary to what he originally surmised, she was honest and forthcoming about her name. Selina Kyle, she was called, and he found he’d never ever met a ‘Selina’ before. It was such a beautiful name, and while he didn’t think it suited a lot of her ‘wilder’ natures and qualities, he appreciated her honesty. It was such a rare thing these days, but she was honest, even when she was trying to conceal it from him._

_She’d done so when he’d caught onto the fact that she’d taken his file out of a personal interest and possible curiosity with him. Well. He’d grown accustomed to morbid and senseless curiosity before, but Selina’s wasn’t at all like that. She wasn’t after making a name for herself, she didn’t want money, she didn’t want popularity, either. Arthur deemed her a special one because she was just as interested in him as he was in her._

_Of course, he had to request her company. But, he should’ve known that cats would show up whenever they felt like it; not when they were told. Anytime she visited, she held back on revealing her truest emotions. She was mean, cold, bitter, and quite harsh with him, but he still could see that she was a nice, kind girl beneath it all. He’d caught her smiling and laughing with her friends sometimes, and he figured that the image and presentation she’d put on for him when they were alone together was just a form of protecting herself._

_And he found it endearing and adorable. Arthur felt the need to treat her in the best possible way, much like his mother had told him to do when he was a teenager and trying to go out on dates with other girls. He’d always fooled and tricked his mother back then into thinking he had dates, girlfriends, and lots of friends who liked him. It was the only way he could make sure she wasn’t sad and hurt. Once, a long time ago, when his schoolteacher had called his mother and informed her that he’d been beaten up during recess, his mother had spent the whole night drinking and crying in her room. He never wanted that to happen again, so he always promised her he was making new friends, that girls liked him and said he was cute, and that he felt wanted._

_Those were lies, but it was to make his mother happy and proud of him. While he had lied and misled his mother, the one person Arthur could never lie to and fool was himself. He knew he hadn’t been loved and cared for, and he was very well aware that a lot of people despised him and thought he was weird._

_Except for Selina Kyle. Though she tried hard to hide it away from him, he could tell that she wanted to be his friend, and very soon, Arthur found himself wanting to be her friend, too._

_And what a friendship it had been. She was the most perfect friend he’d ever dreamed of having. Selina actually laughed at his jokes, and her laughter was genuine. She consorted with him as much as he wanted and needed, and she wasn’t afraid of his condition. She never treated him differently because of it, either, which was a breath of divinely fresh air for him. Arthur had usually only encountered two types of people his whole life, especially when it came to his laughter. The first type of person hated him, feared him, didn’t understand him, and it only grew worse if he laughed due to his condition. Since they had no idea what it was, they shunned and abhorred him. The second group of people didn’t exactly eschew all contact and association from him, however, they dished out too much pity he didn’t need or ask for, and they treated him like something broken._

_Arthur Fleck was not broken. He’d just recently picked up his pieces again, and he was out enjoying life for the first time in years. No one needed to demean him and treat him in such low forms that it was the apotheosis of abasement. He hated when people pitied him, and he pushed many individuals out of his life for doing just that._

_But was Selina pitying him?? Had she even once regarded him with fear? Had she ever looked into his eyes and shuddered at what she’d found?_

_No. The impavid woman sought answers and impletion, but not at anyone’s expense. Listening ears and open eyes had awarded and granted him with the knowledge that Selina Kyle was a likeable, commendable person everywhere. She treated her friends equally, she was just, she was virtuous, and she was beautiful. Whenever and wherever he heard her name, Arthur could’ve sworn his heart did courageous loops and flips in his chest._

_Those same feelings soared even higher and burned brighter when he’d heard of her finally saying the words he’d so longed to hear another person speaking. She’d defended him brazenly in the middle of therapy, and he’d been within earshot to hear it. Selina could’ve stated negative lies about him, but the words she’d spewed instead were in his defense, and for getting his message across. She got him…she understood him…it felt so nice to be understood._

_Was this what it felt like when someone was in love? As he understood it, multiple definitions-not all entirely inaccurate-existed for the purposes of describing the feeling. But it was tough to put it all into a few words. All Arthur was certain of was that the more time he spent with Selina, the more difficult it became to think of spending another day without her. He longed and yearned for her too often throughout the day, and he felt she was becoming as addictive to him as any other drug._

_This…this was love…it had to be love…but was it the same for Selina?? Did she also look at him in the same way, feel the same things coursing through her body for him?_

_He didn’t know, and he didn’t dare push or force it. All he could do was relish in her smiles, value the time they spent together, and cherish her if from a distance. Arthur was a fool in love, but he certainly was no fool by any other means. He was aware of his growing and rumbustious feelings for Selina, but he wasn’t sure whether he would be rejected if he ever divulged to her how he felt. Arthur had all too quickly and all too sadly learned that sometimes, it was wiser not to be so forthcoming and volunteer information. If he disclosed how he felt and how he saw her, they could lose their friendship, and that detrimental loss would be beyond devastating. Selina had been the best thing to ever happen to him in two years, and there was no replacing the warmth she brought into his life._

_It was smarter to keep his feelings to himself, and he did. Smiling and soldering through it all in spite of how his heart ached and burned, he enjoyed their friendship, shared more of his jokes, and tried not to think about her in any romantic way. But, he was a man. As much as he tried to avoid and shun away feeling this intense way for Selina, he always pondered a possibility that one day he could gather his guts and tell her…tell her the truth…_

_The truth?? And just what happened to be the truth, anyway?? The way Arthur saw it, the truth had been divided up into two portions. One of those portions was good, and the other was quite bad. The good was that Selina regarded him well, made him feel warm, fuzzy and gooey on the inside. He’d been smiling more because of her, lately, and he wasn’t giving off the phony, slanted smiles he often had whenever he’d been speaking with Dr. Crane. She actually liked him, she listened to him, she laughed with him instead of laughing at him, and she was open with him. He had every reason to smile!_

_As great as that all was for Arthur, he still couldn’t escape the other truth, and it was indeed harsher and quite bitter in essence. He knew he was older than Selina. When he’d spoken to women previously, he usually navigated and channeled his tastes to women of his own chronological age. Though they never had much in common with him and found him to be an oddball, he at least knew that in the eyes of society, it was proper. But what about his feelings for Selina Kyle? Were they proper, or improper?_

_…._

_On second thought, why did he care about propriety?? When had he even begun giving a damn about all the blasted rules?? Society was quite repugnant and stupid already, and he’d seen a lot of horrible things on a regular basis. What did it matter??? As long as he was happy, as long as she was happy, and as long as they had a lot in common, why was it an issue?_

_…._

_But it was an issue. It remained an issue simply due to the fact that he’d never asked Selina what she thought of him. How she felt about him…did she even really feel the same way, or was this all in his head as it had been once before with a few women and his previous neighbor? Was he yet again fabricating and latching onto something that never even existed?_

_Probably._

_A disconsolate Arthur soon decided that even if there were a small chance somehow that she liked him as much as he liked her, she ought to spend time with and enjoy the romantic company of someone closer to her own age. How could he be so selfish and demand that she spend more time and experiences of intimacy with him? He couldn’t. He may have been quite the inaniloquent man regularly, but he wasn’t a selfish monster._

_…._

_But then she’d surprised him again by kissing him back…oh god, he knew he hadn’t conjured that up in his dreams. It had really happened, and Arthur was so thrilled that it had. He’d wanted to kiss Selina Kyle after the first time they shared an evening meal together, even though she’d cut it short and had flown out of his room, practically. She was so cute and still so kissable in his eyes._

_When their ice cream date had gone sour, and when in spite of it all having melted away, she still smiled and spent time with him eagerly, Arthur truly wanted to confess, hold her close, and kiss her senseless once again. She’d at least allowed him to touch her, though, and after spending more than plenty of his afternoons and early evenings basking with his head resting in her warm lap, he couldn’t contain himself. He just truly couldn’t help but want to kiss her so badly. Arthur felt he even deserved it, and she seemed amicable to the idea after he’d removed the sensual, sexually explicit magazines and calendars from his walls._

_Their kiss…their first kiss…Arthur felt it had been damn perfect. Did perfection even exist?? No, not to himself, and he’d never been overly concerned about it to care. However, whenever he’d been around Selina Kyle, he could tell distinctly and without a shred of doubt that perfection was in fact real._

_She was perfect. Their kiss was perfect, and he’d of course wanted for there to be more. Any man would desire the same after having tasted and felt her soft, luscious lips. After partaking in her warm embrace, Arthur seriously felt he could love her. If he hadn’t already, then he was certain it would only be a matter of time before he really fell in love with Selina Kyle._

_…Until she’d betrayed him so willingly and tossed him aside, just like everyone else had for many years. She’d turned out to be like anyone else he’d ever met, and he was beyond disappointed, broken, hurt, and lost._

_So, it was that easy for her to play around with him, was it? She had no issues toying with his heart, mind, and feelings? So be it. The ultimate choice was hers to make, and Arthur hadn’t accepted it, but he was more than willing to shut out people who’d betrayed him. Perhaps it was time for him to get used to it, after all. If this was how the rest of his life was to be carried out, it was only logical to grow accustomed to it while he still had a chance._

_And thus, Arthur Fleck made the single vow to himself never to trust anyone again. Man or woman, old or young, black or white, he was through with trusting a single soul, and he hated that the time had arrived to include Selina Kyle on that list. He’d had such high hopes for them both. He’d planned for a future with her, and he’d dreamt of it night after night, reaching out for it as though it were tangible and real…_

_But it never was. It was only in his head, as Dr. Crane chastised him._

_Be that as it may, he still didn’t want her dead or to even have her hurting…at least not physically. It was a pure miracle of fate that she’d landed in his lap again, both literally and figuratively. Selina Kyle, in the flesh, stuck in the same room with him. Maybe his luck hadn’t run out._

_Perhaps he could toy with her a bit…give her a taste of her own sickly, poisonous medicine…_


	20. A Kitten and A Clown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *WARNING! SEXUAL CONTENT!!!*

Things were foggy and hazy as a groggy Selina stirred. Haurient, though only at first, she shifted in both her memories and thoughts before turning herself over in a weak heave. The last thing she could recall was that the insatiable and vicious cruelty experienced at the hands of Oswald Cobblepot had been too much for her body to handle. Of course, she’d passed out after all of the torture. Anyone would. But where exactly was she, now?

Grasping at the air with her fingers, Selina desperately tried regaining her senses and motor skills. Something soft was at her back, which informed and alerted her that wherever she happened to currently be, at least it was soft, warm, and she was lying down. She could firmly and confidently tell when she glanced up and saw a white ceiling peering back at her.

Scanning the rest of the room, it didn’t require much in the way of time before Selina discovered that she was being kept in a motel room of sorts. The yellow, tattered curtains hanging before the windows gave that away, as did the old, cheap wooden furniture strewn about. The old carpet reeked and was stained, and it smelled distinctly of beer and cigarettes...lovely. Such sights and odors were enough to send Selina in a querulous mood, but when she tried removing herself from the bed only to be held back by a strong force, she felt her anger throbbing in her veins and shooting up to her head.

Ignoring the pain searing through her back, she swirled her head around, and she nearly roared when her eyes took in the sight of rope bindings wrapped around her wrists, keeping her firmly tied to the headboard of a bed.

Majestic. Who was responsible for this, then?!?

She didn’t suppose it could’ve been Oswald. The man had quite the posh, classy touch, and there was just no way on earth he would be caught dead in a gross motel room such as this, for starters.

Her mind went scrambling wildly to what had occurred right before she’d passed out...who had she been with?

….

Shit!! It had to have been the quidditative Arthur Fleck who was ultimately responsible for all this!! As soon as the thoughts entered her brain, Selina’s sharp ears caught the sound of running water coming from somewhere close by. It wasn’t too loud, but it was loud enough to educate her to the fact that she obviously wasn’t going to be alone for long.

Wanting to try her hand at escaping, Selina glanced down at herself, but then shortly gasped in sheer terror. She found that horrifically, a few towels had been placed by the foot of the bed, and a relatively loose sheet covered her upper torso. She could feel she still had her bra on, at least, but on the lower half of her body, she definitely had been reduced and stripped to her underwear...

Dear gods...the quiddity and alarming nature of the current situation was enough to make her nauseous. What a predicament...

Quivering and wincing in blatant disgust, she’d wanted to scream out for Arthur to get the hell out of wherever he was currently hiding, when right on cue, the bathroom door adjacent to the bed clicked open. The water shut off a second later, and a shirtless Arthur Fleck stumbled out of the steamy bathroom. His face was slightly tickled pink, skin wet, but also smooth. He’d just shaved, she accurately surmised. He’d wet and slicked his hair back neatly, and as he wandered over to the bed, he smiled gently at her. She scowled in a silent form of a reply, taking her time in the awkward quiety, beyond suspicious of him and his intentions.

Forcing her jaw to fall open, she lamented, “You did this to me!! This is horrible, Arthur!!”

He soon broke the strange, uncomfortable silence by looming over the edge of the bed and unfolding one clean towel as he plucked it from the little pile he’d set out. Tossing her a relatively satirical smirk, he commented, “It was the only way I was able to make you comfortable; your body’s hurt, Selina.”

“Screw you!!” she fired out, voice shrilled and hoarse already. “You just needed an excuse to peek at me without my clothes on!!”

Moving along the edge of the bed in an eerie, graceful manner, Arthur slid one of the unfolded towels beneath Selina as gently and carefully as he could. Eyes wide, he coughed out, “I swear, I actually didn’t peek at you...”

She snarled contemptuously, “Arthur!!! You—”

“...That much, anyway,” he concluded with a bit of a naughty wink. “I didn’t peek that much.”

Feeling beyond homicidal in spite of her obviously vulnerable position, Selina snapped, “Untie me, and I swear I won’t tear you apart for tonight.”

Tilting his head at her, he hummed softly, “Well, I guess I need to do that anyway, because I’m going to turn you over onto your stomach.”

Frowning at him while he worked the thick knots loose, she inquired cautiously, “Why??”

When the knots came undone as a silent Arthur Fleck worked them, Selina reared forth to attack, but Arthur gripped her strongly by the neck, forcefully rolling her over. Due to her fear of being completely stripped naked before him, she shrieked sharply and quit fighting.

“That’s a good girl,” he cooed at her childishly as he slid a few more towels beneath her form. The way he gently handled her as he helped her to lie flatly on her stomach so he could then cover her lower half with the sheet was almost endearing, Selina found. He verbally explained everything he was soon going to be doing, and he never lied or misled her.

Quixotic through majority of his touching, he propped a pillow beneath her chin, positioned her head comfortably enough, and then knelt on the bed as close to her as possible. Strangely, his knees never once made physical contact with her body. He was quite cautious and careful, only using his hands to assess the damage done by Oswald Cobblepot before he leaned back and swiped a bottle of soothing and gentle ointment. It was a healing balm he’d luckily found right before slipping out of Oswald Cobblepot’s manor with Selina.

He was certain that they’d grown aware of their abrupt escape at this point and were possibly sounding the alarm looking for them. Arthur only hoped he could ‘patch up’ the frazzled Selina enough so they could flee before dawn.

Avoiding a particularly scathing glare from her when she raised her head enough to be able to scowl at him from over her shoulder, he hung his head down and stated bluntly, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to unhook your lovely bra in order to spread the lotion here…I’m sorry…”

With a strained groan, she spat, “Fine, but if you even _think_ about doing anything else, so help me god, it’ll be your last day standing, Arthur Fleck.”

Nodding even though she wasn’t looking at him anymore, he replied calmly while pushing down the shoulder straps of her black bra, “I got it. I’ll make it quick.” With an air of ignavia and laziness, he worked her straps completely off her arms, and then popped and unhooked each of the five hooks in the center. The act itself was rather illecebrous, but Arthur felt it would be quite devious and wrong to voice just how sensual he found the experience to be. She was still hurting, and above all else, he wasn’t interested in teasing her beyond that.

When she peeked at him from the corner of her eyes, he pushed her bra aside while trying to avoid staring at her chest. “I’m going to apply the lotion, now,” he randomly and strangely announced as though discussing news or politics with her. She seemed truly grateful and only encouraged him to hurry.

Intent on doing just that, he popped open the cap of the ointment, and he dabbed a generous amount on his hands, and then over Selina’s scarred back.

Gripping the sheets when the cold liquid hit her skin, Selina hissed out in shock, “Ohh! That’s cold!! Damn it!”

“Stay still,” Arthur cautioned her softly, “I’ll try to make it fast.” On his promise, he dabbed the soothing medicine everywhere he could while fending off Selina’s hissing and curse words flung his way. Some of it was…colorful, to say the least, but he knew she was in great amounts of pain and likely didn’t mean them all sincerely.

Coping with the pain as best as she could, Selina counted the holes in the walls, the stains in the ceiling, and the cracks in the baseboards until she felt she could breathe again. Assuming the worst of it was now over, she let out a sigh of relief and shifted her hips. Biting onto bits of her pillow, Selina asked painfully, “S-so, y-you got me outta there, huh?”

It went without saying that her question was baseless and quite banal. Arthur appeared to think and feel the same way, but he didn’t comment on it. Vigilantly, he stood by her, hands and arms moving in slow but determined clockwise and counterclockwise motions. He soothed her tension starting from her upper back and shoulders first before moving down to her lower back. Resisting his hands at first possibly due to pain, after a few minutes, Selina relented and began enjoying what he was doing.

Peeking down at her when she let out soft moaning sounds, Arthur snickered in amusement. She was practically writhing for him…damn, it was a sight he felt he could get used to.

“Are you enjoying my hands on you?”

Paling, Selina blurted out hurriedly, “No!! I just want to get better, you fool!! Stop perverting it and aaah!!”

Writhing against the mattress in blinding hot pain when he pressed down hard over her spine, she fought back hot tears. Arthur remained purely calm and level-headed, while Selina practically fainted in pain. It was too much for her to bear, but Arthur kept speaking to her throughout delivering his massages, perhaps as a method of helping distract from her pain. Well, it worked for a moment; the illecebrous motions of his warm hands gliding and slithering through the lotion at least helped her skin not feel as though it were on fire.

With a drawn-out huff, Arthur pointed out shrewdly, “Relax your body; I’m not going to do anything bad, okay?” As she chose to prolong the silence, he added, “I hate to break it to you, but you have welts almost over your butt. Gonna have to take off your—”

Roaring like a wildcat, Selina spat, “Fine! Just do it instead of talking about it!!”

Without much else stated, Arthur gently reached down to her legs. Not moving too quickly, he pushed with his free hand up along the sheet, holding her in place while he yanked her underwear clean off. As soon as cold air hit her naked, damp center, Selina hissed out in embarrassment.

Forcing himself not to stare at her underwear, Arthur groaned in mild lust as he tossed it down to the floor. “You took more than what you could handle, but I’m not like Oswald.”

Not convinced of this, Selina cried weakly, “Anything can happen in the most dire situation! I was ju-just t-trying to protect myself!!” She yelped when Arthur’s hands wandered, massaging and applying the soothing oil lower and lower. Eventually, he began administering the soothing balm right over the curvaceous swell of her bottom, just barely concealed by the tiny towel draped along her bum.

Tilting his head sarcastically at her, Arthur pulled a moue of pettiness as he mimicked her spoken woes in his own tone and masculine pitch that hung on mordant notes and nasal whining in his exaggeration. “Oh really,” he began moodily in a gaucherie, “so tell me, just what _would_ happen in the _most dire situation,_ hmm??”

When one of his hands hovered over one of her globes, she wanted to desperately pant out: _‘This!! This could happen in the most dire situation!’,_ but the words never came out.

As soon as his larger hands gripped her full bottom, Selina had wanted to scream out, but she found she couldn’t. Bashfully, she gushed in a small moan, “W-waaaaaiiit, Arthur!!”

The man selected his next motions quite well. Though he’d cleverly abandoned serving as Selina’s adjutor to massage her pain away, he hadn’t done anything in the way that would contribute to troubling or disturbing the young female. He was only pushing the oil down lower to her behind. Before she could hiss at him in a light warning, however, his hands and fingers would crawl back up along her spine. His fingertips deeply sunk into her flesh, and she held onto the mattress and sheets tightly.

“Hmm,” Arthur hummed behind her. “You have soft skin.”

Huffing bitterly, Selina spat, “Not anymore, thanks to Cobblepot.”

Looming over her, Arthur’s hands again wandered down to her ass, and like little spiders, they fluttered and flitted about. He never was lewd or salacious with his touching, she discovered. Instead, he left a lot of it to her willful imagination as to whether or not he’d been intending to caress and stroke her bottom and enjoy anything else. The exility of each fingertip evulgated and divulged its own secrets, brandishing them into her skin as though the message had been always meant for her flesh.

Arthur gave out a whimsical sigh, and just the mere sensation of his breath hitting her back seemed to guide Selina’s thoughts wayward and astray. Soon, her fears had evanished, almost without her knowledge and consent. It was as though they’d never even been there in the first place, and she had to wonder just how it was possible for someone like Arthur Fleck to instill such feelings within her to begin with.

He seemed highly absorbed with his task, but whenever his inflamed flesh slid along hers, Selina would struggle and gement vocally.

“Shh,” he hushed her, voice gravelly and husky, “let me take care of you.”

She had no idea why, but she allowed it. Arthur’s fingers worked magic on Selina’s swollen, red skin. Anywhere his fingers traveled, he took the sensual, soothing balm and oil with himself. It blanketed and covered her sores in a tenderness she didn’t know was at all possible to feel. Surrendering herself to the sweet, nectar-like pleasure bestowed upon her then, she stretched herself flatly onto her stomach, writhing and purring in satisfaction and elation.

It felt soooo goooood…

Twisting and pulling at the soft, silky sheets beneath herself, Selina gradually began arching her back and hips up, not at all mindful of the towel slowly slipping off her lower torso whenever she swayed and swished her hips. The room was so warm that she hadn’t noticed she was now bare before Arthur.

The older man paused in his massaging, flinty eyes cast down hungrily at Selina’s toned bottom. “Hmm,” he droned while his breath hitched in his throat. “It’s a good view I’ve got, here.”

Selina’s eyes bugged out at once. In the height of her humiliation and abasement, she yanked the sheets around her nude form. “You god damn sicko!” she shrieked from the bottom of her lungs, scrambling to get as far away from him as she could. “You were peeking!!” 

Standing back when she rounded on him, barely able to stand on her knees, Arthur gave out a detached, cold shrug. “It was a good view,” he repeated carelessly, eyes glazed over in concupiscent hunger. “No need to snap at me.”

“Oh, you go watch your porn, you psycho!” Selina hissed acerbically, brushing her hair out of her eyes with an undignified snarl.

Unfortunately for the vicious young woman, her indecorous temper and unseemly attitude was but mere child’s play in Arthur Fleck’s mind and sight. Snorting crudely, he loomed over her, gaze bearing down on her own while he sneered in a putrid manner.

“Tell me,” he began in quite the snarky fashion, “is it _that_ time of month for you?”

Selina saw red.

Without exerting the slightest bit of self-control, she lunged at him. With one hand still holding the bed sheets about her slender, feminine physique, she wrapped her free hand about his neck. Though she wasn’t intent on choking or squeezing him to death, she threw all her weight atop his body. Together, they both crashed unceremoniously onto the floor with Selina right over Arthur’s warm body. Slightly heady and dizzy when his extreme body heat speared into her, she trembled before tightening her hold on him.

“I’m warning you, Fleck,” she growled like a lioness, “I’m _not_ in the mood for your stupid games. Am I understood?”

Holding up his hands before her, an innocent expression befell him as he murmured, “I didn’t mean it that way, Selina. I just meant to finish my sentences…with…a…”

His voice trailed off suggestively, and she bemoaned, “Fleck! You—”

Quickly, he blurted in a dispiteous mess, “Everysentenceendswithaperiod.”

Before Selina could dish out massive amounts of scorn and contempt his way, Arthur’s face turned beet red, and he began laughing louder than ever. His voice welled up in her ears, and Selina was certain that her eardrums would pop at any minute.

“HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!” He went on and on for almost a minute before it became obvious he was suffering through his vile condition once more. His neck was red, and the veins protruded while he tried fanning away at himself as though to create some fresh oxygen.

The entire sight of it was pathetic to Selina. She shook her head at him while he craned his neck back and forth, still trapped in the unfortunate throes of his maniacal, fatuous laughter.

“AHAHAHAHAHAA!! HAHAHAHA!!! OHOHOHO!!! HAHA!!”

She vowed not to help him when he began choking for air…at least, not in the ways she’d previously done…

Deciding to go along with cruelty, Selina didn’t even warn Arthur of her new, impious ‘plans’. On her own volition entirely, she drew her right hand back, and she scratched him as hard as she could over the chest. With a roar befitting a giant, untamed beast, Arthur broke out of his crazed laughter due to the immense pain her fingernails brought to his body. Wildly, his hands came about her back and waist, gripping and holding her in position tightly. Shocked, Selina tried to move, but it was already too late.

Rearing up, Arthur bit down relatively hard into the crook of her neck, and Selina screamed out in equal amounts of pain and agony as Arthur had felt. Inching off his lap as best as she could while his teeth ground into her soft skin, she slapped him brutally across the cheek. He let her go, then, cringing while a small, pink imprint of her hand meeting with his cheek was evident on his face.

Nearly tripping over the long bed sheet trailing over her legs and the floor, a pained Selina Kyle wailed, “You bastard!!” Touching the sore area he’d bitten into, she gasped, “The hell was that for?!?”

Standing up quickly, Arthur shouted back at her, “That’s how it feels when you do that!!” Pointing angrily at her, he screamed vehemently, “You can hurt me, but you get mad when I hurt you?? That’s stupid and I am sick of it, Selina!!”

She knew he had a point. Perhaps she wouldn’t admit to it verbally in a confirmation, but he had a solid point to get across. Every fiber of her existence begged and pleaded with her not to hurt him, that he’d once been her friend…they’d once shared a close kinship, and even a few tender kisses…

…What had happened in the past to change all that? Wasn’t he the same person she’d developed feelings for??

In an effort to answer her own burning question, Selina took a good, long look at Arthur Fleck as he stood before her. His shirt was completely off, still, and though he’d done well to gain a bit of his flesh and muscles back, he was still relatively rail thin and macilent. His abdominal muscles flexed and buckled while he remained there, panting and wincing in pain while a hand softly dabbed at the fresh wounds Selina’s sharp nails had created for him. His black jogging pants barely hung onto his hips, the v-fronts slowly sliding downwards to reveal bony hips jutting forth. His legs were long, but lean, strangely. He was suddenly somehow taller than her by a margin, and his body hair, although sparse, was quite dark. His black eyebrows furrowed, and when she gaped at him, she caught his angry scar hanging over his upper lip.

….

She looked at him for some time, and rather than feeling repulsed or disgusted by him, she discovered the complete opposite.

To Selina Kyle, Arthur Fleck was handsome, beautiful, radiant, and she was quite drawn to him. What a mess. She hated herself for sensing all the nascent, residual feelings from three months ago resurfacing like a case of a bad rash, but there they exuberantly flooded back as naturally as breathing came to her.

Why?? Something had to have been wrong with her…at least, she assumed so. Otherwise, there would’ve been no conceivable way she’d been feeling these emotions!

Nearly choking on her irritation and pent-up sexual frustrations, she inched her glabrous, slender body towards his. Holding onto the bed sheet tightly as a cover she insisted upon keeping perhaps as an adamant barrier between them, Selina’s flesh gently made contact with Arthur’s. Heat seared forth, and regardless of the sheet between their bodies, she clung to him desperately. 

He returned the intimate gesture, wrapping his long, thin limbs about her. Crushing her to himself, he buried the tip of his nose into her bushy, wavy blonde hair, inhaling a deep breath. Stroking her back tenderly, it took him a few moments before he whispered, “Selina, I don’t want to let you go…I’m…I’m s-scared that if I d-do, you w-won’t come back anymore…”

Although she wasn’t certain she understood his puzzling words, she knew she wanted to understand even more. Selina had never longed for anything more in her young life, and she relished in this feeling that maybe, _maybe_ she would be able to understand Arthur.

Hopefully. With hope, there came a lot of serene visions and moments…

Closing her eyes while her mind flooded with warm thoughts and enchanting dreams, Selina felt entirely numb from the waist down. When had curling up against this man felt so right?? She could honestly remain glued to his form for hours, and she’d never grow weary of it. She felt as though she belonged there, basking in his radiant warmth, and she didn’t wish to leave.

….

Until a hand licentiously groped her behind, drawing her flush against him. Yelping, Selina’s jaw hung open in raw shock, and it was a rather poor, unfortunate choice for a move on her part. The opportunist in Arthur leapt at once closer to her with tenacity, and his free hand snaked behind her skull. Holding her tightly, he slammed his mouth down over her own, effectively smothering any cries of protest she emitted.

Selina was indeed frozen stiff in fear and surprise, but she soon snapped out of it when he tried forcing her mouth open and sliding his tongue in past her lips. The cunning, conniving, jesuitical man had tried taking advantage of her. At once, she roared like a jungle cat, and at the utmost display of her foul, ragmatical temper, Selina scratched Arthur once again. Like the last time she’d done it, he hadn’t been prepared for it, but he dashed quickly to the side. Her nails scraped along his neck, but she hadn’t been able to cause enough damage as she’d liked to have done.

Giggling puckishly while swaying before her, Arthur’s grin mocked her beyond the point of no return. This man was the bane of her existence, she decided, and there was no need to be around him. All he excelled in apparently was making her life a living hell, deriving pleasure from her misfortune and discomfort, and being a creep. That was it. She was a blithering idiot to think and expect more from him.

When would she ever learn?

She had to think on the question while she hurriedly put her bra and the rest of her clothes back on as she turned around, eager to get away from him before he did something else she didn’t enjoy.

Ignoring him while he ravenously danced on energetically like a monkey, Selina sedulously flitted away to a high shelf hanging above a closet. It practically kissed the ceiling due to how high up it was, and a few remaining old towels and cloths hung about on top of it. Without even glancing in Arthur’s direction, she limped along, sliding herself up the wall in her firm grips until she draped herself on top of the shelf. Curling up onto it with the towels, she reveled in her pride once he ceased dancing and clowning around.

“H-hey!” he called up to her as he paced towards the shelf. “Why’re you so high up there?”

Not one to illude him tonight due to how weak and cold she still felt, Selina only growled at him in a clear warning. “Leave me alone, Fleck; I wish to be as far away from you as possible.”

He looked wounded, troubled, and broken all at the same time. The emotions flooded over his dark eyes and features, skin slightly gaunt and akin to a ghostly pallor. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down when he swallowed thickly, and it was then that she had to wonder whether he was going to break out into heavy tears or not.

But he surprised her by cradling his scratched neck. Hissing in pain while touching it tenderly, eyeing the small streams of fresh blood dripping down, he announced randomly, “I’m…I’m going to have a b-bath…”

He’d already showered, she suspected, but he could do whatever he wanted as long as he kept away from her. Still, that didn’t do much to prevent Selina from wanting to get one final jab in before he wandered back into the bathroom and was unable to hear her. While sitting nicely atop the shelf and towels, she watched him much like a jungle cat stalking its prey.

Perched nicely, she enjoyed the bird’s eye view before speaking softly, but clearly. “I think I’m the one who should have a bath…seeing as how your filthy hands were on me.”

Her implications and words were enough for him, and he didn’t need much more in the way of an encouragement to get the hell out of there.

(***’’***”)

Arthur stepped out of his loose pants once the bathroom door was tightly closed and locked. Yanking back the stained, sullied shower curtain, without another fuss, the inaniloquent male turned on the warm water faucet, and then stood against the shower wall stiffly.

His head was throbbing with fury, pent-up frustration, emotional suffering, and more than anything else, he truly felt drained. The warm water shot out of the shower head, spraying his chest and stomach first, before flitting down to pool around his legs. Stepping around the puddle down below, Arthur began waving his hands back and forth, up and down, all in quite the animated manner. In a matter of seconds, he began whispering to himself colorfully, a bit of a habit in his illustrious past whenever he felt so agitated and annoyed.

Conversing with himself, he ran his right hand through his hair, effectively soaking it before stepping directly beneath the shower spray.

What was wrong with him? Why had she been so rude when he was trying to help her and cheer her up?? He was only playing and kidding around just a bit!!!

Shaking his head, he sniffled, talking openly as he made sure the volume of his voice never rose above that of the sounds of the water raining down. Quivering, Arthur wrapped his hands around his slender form, twitching while he went on and on…

Lips curling, he hissed to himself, “She…she…oh god! That woman! How can I talk to her?!?”

And just how could he??

Wondering that aloud, he remembered how angry she’d been with him as he even took care of her and massaged her tender, sore flesh. How ungrateful and rude!! His feelings were still incipient and at the beginning stages as far as forgetting her and moving on from her was concerned, and then she had to show up in his life again like an unwanted germ!!

Selfish woman!!

Conducting the orchestra of his own thoughts by waving the pointed index fingers of both hands through the air in slicing and swinging motions, Arthur closed his eyes tightly as he went over everything that had occurred in the last day. There was only chaos raging in his mind; not music…yet he bopped and bowed his head in time to the erratic beat and rhythm of her yelling and screaming, conducting his fingers to even move in time with them. Hair flying about wildly, he soon panted her name over and over again without even realizing it.

Selina Kyle in his life again, both of them landing into trouble with the new crime boss Oswald Cobblepot and his gang ‘The Penguins’, Selina being beaten and whipped, Arthur saving her and dragging her out through the basement tunnels beneath the mansion…

Massaging her, taking care of her, seeing her plump, firm behind, the curve and swell of her enticing breasts, so full, so round, so tender…

….

Opening his eyes immediately on the last thought, Arthur took a moment to dip his head back away from the water. His roscid shoulders touched the coldness of the shower tiles lining the wall, and he paused as he whispered to himself. The susurration of both his own voice and the warm water spilling forth was enough to send him reeling.

Before he knew it, he had already softly cried out, “Selina…”

Frowning as he caught himself, Arthur slapped himself once soundly across the face. It was such a putrid, cruel sound, but he had to do it. His face seared and stung with pain, but he did it again once more.

SLAP!

“No!” he shrieked as he stomped down roughly on the bottom of the shower. “No!! No!! Nooo!”

Again and again, Arthur slapped himself until he felt dizzy. His skin was beyond red, and he could feel the heat rising off it due to the intensity of each blow. Face sanguineous as his heart thrumming and beating angrily, he clenched his hands into tight fists and wailed.

“She…she never liked me!! I’m…I’m so—” Interrupting himself by choking on his next word, Arthur’s eyes widened, and he could feel it all rising and surging wildly above all else; the hellish laughter.

Groaning, he fell against the walls and emitted the same menacing, maniacal laughter he’d been plagued with cruelly for decades. When would it ever stop?? When would it go away??

“HAHAHAHA!!!! OOHHOOO!!! HAHAHAA!!! Ugh!!! HAHAHA!!!”

Tugging on his wet hair strands, he begged himself to stop and snap out of it, but there was no use. It had a mind of its own, and as always, it had to effectively and thoroughly run its course before he could even breathe. Beating his fists against his chest, in order to make the experience far less painful on himself, Arthur dove into his imagination and creative thoughts. When too much in the way of darkness and torment hit him back, he flocked to another thought that he often found joy and comfort in.

Selina Kyle.

Focusing on her, he recalled how her hips and back arched as he’d massaged her tenderly and carefully. Through his loud laughter, he vividly remembered how she’d smiled and hissed, but in pleasure whenever the soothing lotion graced her skin. She’d actually allowed him to touch that body…and what a magnificent body she had, truly. She was still relatively thin, much like the last time he’d seen her, but Arthur never considered her to be on the ‘scrawny’ side of ‘thin’ as he himself was. Selina still was athletic, agile, sleek, quick, and once again, he had to whisper out loud:

“She’s so damn perfect…”

….

He had stopped laughing?

Yes…when he thought of her flat stomach, a small bit of a four-pack abdominal muscle set she’d sported due to exercising and following rigorous activity, he felt that she _was_ the very definition of perfection. She was the apotheosis of amazing, superb, sensual, sexy…

….

He was aroused. Dear god, there was no escaping this.

Blinking rapidly, Arthur gaped down between his legs, and much to his horror, he could now visually confirm that he was tumescent. It ached, it throbbed, and he was ashamed…at first. Eyes shifting away from his stiff, full flesh, he very innocently and curiously pressed the palm of his right hand over his erection, and then emitted a strained gasp.

Yes, how much he wished this wasn’t a possibility and reality seemed to be diminishing until it had disappeared. Hesitance dwindling, he remembered that he had the privacy and protection of the closed and locked door to be able to do his own sexual bidding, and so he was. He hadn’t relieved himself in this way since before appearing on the Murray Franklin show, and who knew how much longer before that it’d been since he engaged in these matters. He needed to do this, and he was going to do it, right now.

Usually, Arthur relied on other scantly clad women in order to proceed with his wanton acts, but this time, there was only one single female toying with his pride and ego.

Selina Kyle. In spite of all her treachery and deceit, he still wanted her. More than anything, Arthur wanted to discover how his chest would feel pressed up against her breasts. Her tantalizing body reeled him in, and he knew he’d been placed under her unique, dark spell. It didn’t take too long before he could sense and feel his own secretions while he searched through his fantasies. But he still wondered…Arthur wondered how her breasts and nipples would feel under his palm and how sensitive those sensual nipples were. Oh, to think of them brought a prosodemic smile onto his face and in his heart.

He pictured them both naked, writhing on a bed before spooning behind her while she would be caressing his chest. Would she prefer his fingertips brushing her nipples? Or would he enjoy the gentle rasp of her sharp nails sliding into his flesh while he pleased her orally? What sort of noises would she make if he pinched and plucked those hardened buds to turgid peaks? Would she beg for him to explore lower or would she grasp his wrist in her strong grip and force it south? Would she allow his fingers to explore her wet depths, toy and pluck at her folds before pressing down on the nub of her sexuality?

Shuddering, he wondered while he palmed himself, trying to steady his weight on both legs solidly before he began working a hand up and down his stiff flesh. He’d now seen her shirtless, ass pert in the air, and it only made him want her more. Arthur wanted to reach out to her, grip her, and wander with his fingers along her body. Those same fingers stroking and wrapping around the tip of his cock to pinch and tug it gently itched to trail down the flat plane of Selina’s stomach and dip into her navel.

Knees bucking, Arthur’s skull knocked into the tiles as he paused long enough to count to ‘ten’ before getting a hold of himself. He didn’t want to spoil everything too soon; the fantasy couldn’t end just yet.

As he huffed out labored breaths, he imagined Selina entirely naked as she wandered inside the bathroom with him. She would pause before the steamy, foggy shower curtain, toying with it while swaying and swishing her full hips wantonly. Yes…she would push the towel Arthur wrapped around his lower body aside and would use her little hands to just touch him. Nothing would happen at first; they would look and touch. Then, as they closed their eyes to surrender to the tactile senses, her hands would wander over Arthur’s chest. And Arthur’s hands were in the midst of doing so as he thought of Selina.

Desperately, he lowered his hands, which felt like molten lava, and pushed at his venerous cock before tugging and stroking it upwards. He wanted Selina to be the one tugging on his zipper one day, possibly with her dainty white teeth in order to free his hardening length. Groaning, his fingers trailed up and down his cock as he imagined Selina on her knees, breasts bouncing while teasing the smooth skin of his shaft. Trembling, a hand was now drifting down to caress his balls, rolling them in his shaved sack.

How would Selina’s soft, pink skin feel against his own? He knew she was so soft already, and her hairless body delighted him to no avail. He wished he had even allowed her to touch his semi-hard or erect at one time or another back when he had the chance. When he’d washed himself off after escaping through the dank, dark tunnels, he wanted nothing more than to boldly walk before her in not even his underwear, but that wouldn’t be too satisfying and would’ve frightened her. As much as uncommon behavior thrilled Arthur, the very uncommon thing he desired to do now was to embrace the strength of his desire to lave all that bare, shaven, vulnerable skin of her femininity with his warm tongue. To explore and learn the taste of her skin and to discover how much of her essence he could swallow.

What would she taste like?

Pondering it and mulling it over, Arthur’s thoughts switched over to a rather lewd, prurient imagery of himself on top of Selina. She was handcuffed to a bed, but oh so willing as she spread her legs for him like a supermodel. Stroking himself quickly, he heard her voice cooing lustfully in his ear, telling him that his thick cock was good sized for his height and was pale with a rosy flush when engorged with blood. And how she would tell him that she hungered for it.

Arthur wanted her so badly, that he felt even if he couldn’t taste her, then he would be more than content with touching her all night. In the throes of his sexual peak, his right hand resumed with stroking his palm down the length of his thick arousal before he curled his fist around his cock. Lost and wild in his urges, now, he began rubbing his leaking pre cum around the crown of his cock and teasing under the rim while imagining spreading her legs shamelessly while dipping his tongue thoroughly and deeply into her. As one of his fingertips started to trace the vein running along the underside of his shaft back and forth, he pictured himself both eating her out while fingering her until she begged him for more. Or demanded it of him, seeing as Selina was a pushy little shit.

…He could almost taste her on his lips, now. The water beat down on him, and he used his left hand to stroke and dab at the minor scratch wounds she’d gifted him with. While Arthur enclosed his cock in a shaky hand and swiftly pumped its length until he writhed against the wall, he wondered just what it would take for Selina to scratch him again…only in a new way. He’d found out that he was growing a strange fondness for it, but if she did it in the middle of him tasting her…oh, that would be another story. Perhaps she would bury a hand tightly in his mop of dark hair and scratch away at his scalp while his tongue fucked her clitoris to high heaven. But he didn’t want to be done with her, yet. He would enjoy her properly, and at all angles. He would turn her over as he’d done before, and her toned ass would be grinding up against his aching cock, tormenting him with its tight waiting warmth. He would press his flushed face in the curve of her neck before entering her from behind…

“S-Selina!” He choked on her name practically as he pumped and squeezed his hard cock until with a great shudder, his body warned him that he was close to completion. And this was when he needed to be buried inside her the most, but his thoughts would have to do for now. Basking in his warm concupiscence, Arthur imagined Selina’s hands holding him closely before she cupped his face and pressed their lips together. They would breathe as one while they were conjoined as one, and it would be the best thing in the world.

Already, he was starting to spill into his own hand, but he hung onto the fantasies while his hips made erratic and crazed upwards thrusting motions. Those eyes…her innocent, baby-blue eyes, and her red, swollen lips-swollen only from his own kisses there-would be the best sight to grace his eyes. Arthur hoped they would come together while screaming out for each other in perfect harmony and passion. While he waited for the blonde beauty to recover from the tremors coursing her slender, muscular body, he would go down on her one last time to lick her clean of their salty, sweet come.

And that last thought pushed him right on the edge.

“Oh…oh g-god, S-Selina!!” Arthur felt his own balls draw up tightly against his body and barely had time to grab the cold, wet shower shelf before he erupted with his own potent release. After a long moment of staring up sightlessly at the ceiling, he could hear his own heartbeat sounding loud in his ears. Shuddering at the very end of it, he came in one last spurt of a puissant shake.

“Selina…please…f-fuck…”

Unsure of what it was he was saying and crying out for, Arthur nearly crumbled down to the shower floor in a dull, somnolent heap. His mighty orgasm had knocked the wind out of him, and his hands fell limply at his sides like a puppet cut loose from its strings. Less than capable, he tried standing up once he caught his breath, and once his weak arms found purchase in the shower shelves. Rinsing himself off hurriedly, he felt his anger spiking up once again.

He realized he’d left Selina Kyle all alone in a room that had open doors and windows…

Shit!! What if she’d already gotten out?!? With that on the top of his list of growing worries, Arthur shut off the water, exited the shower, and nearly tripped over his wet feet and slid along the wet bathroom floor as he hopped back into his loose pants. Ignoring how soaked and cold he still was, he searched all around the bedroom and adjacent kitchen.

They were empty…Selina was gone…

An open window with the curtains fluttering in the light breeze was more proof than required to tell him that she’d escaped through the balcony.


	21. Trust and Betrayal

He wouldn’t curse himself for making such a grievous mistake, but he was absolutely livid and enraged for being so careless in the first place. Of course she’d escape when left all alone in an unlocked room!! He’d untied her like a moron, and he’d indulged in his own sexual urges for too long before he noticed his errors.

Now that the heady lust had worn off, and now that he’d emptied himself of his burdens, a new set soon chained him down and caused him enough torment. How could he free and rid himself of these fetters??? Arthur wasn’t sure, but one thing he knew was that he needed to put on a shirt, and to have a cigarette.

He couldn’t even think properly, otherwise.

Scrambling through the plastic bag of clothes he’d found tossed on the side of the road earlier, he put on a dark green dress shirt, messily buttoning it up to the middle. He’d misaligned a greater many of the white buttons, but he could care less when Selina was gone. It was the middle of the night, and he had to wonder just how far she could’ve made it before she fainted again.

He hoped she wasn’t hurting as much as he was…

Fishing out a cigarette and a match from a matchbox, Arthur decided to at least not smoke indoors and alert the overnight staff and other neighbors in the old motel to their presence. They hadn’t exactly ‘paid’ their way in, and he knew they weren’t welcome; least of all ‘Joker’. He didn’t even want to entertain the idea of what would happen if they were discovered.

Shaking at the tumultuous thought, Arthur held his shirt about himself and finally made his way out onto the balcony. The fire escape pressed against the wall a few inches away from the balcony, squeaking lightly against the wind. That same wind caused him to shiver, and it blew back his thick cigarette smoke. Holding onto it between his teeth, Arthur brushed his stringy, wet hair out of his eyes and just looked up at the night sky.

As much as he hated Gotham lately, he had to admit, the sky was brilliant. Scintillating, dazzling stars shined and beamed down upon all, not at all biased or mean in their casting of light. They clung to each other, and the clouds and moon only bolstered their excellence. They were all a part of the brilliance and excellence of Arthur’s mood, his memories and most peaceful moments spent as a young boy surrounding these stars. Once, so many years ago, they’d instilled a lot of tranquility within him. He could gaze for hours on end at the stars, outlining them with a few fingers while connecting their dots to make random shapes and patterns. Such creativity, such imagination, and they’d all been a conducive part to it.

Down below, Arthur could hear the sounds of the quotidian traffic, even at this hour of the night. The city never slept, it seemed, and even now, the night was brighter than the day with its liberal effusions of wild noises and odd happenings. He supposed that if he had a pair of binoculars, he would be able to see what exactly was going on down there in such a broken world…

Tilting his head down into the dark void beneath himself, Arthur’s hands clung to the cold railing of the balcony, and he shivered as his stomach flipflopped the moment he realized how far up he was. Drawing himself away from the edge, he gripped his cigarette tightly between two fingers and mentally wondered where Selina was…

“You know, you could always jump, Fleck...end it all.”

At the sound of that familiar, feminine voice, Arthur swirled around, and he saw no one to his right. Frowning, he’d been about to toss it off as his imagination working up again, when he heard a sharp hiss.

“Up, dummy.”

Following that simple ‘direction’, Arthur glanced up to the top of the fire escape and teetering on the ledge of the closed windowsill close to the dark fire escape perched Selina. She was wearing a black leather jacket with tiny studs on the shoulders, and her torn, dark jeans clung to her thighs while she grinned down at Arthur.

Wildly sputtering with his jaw hanging open, the abashed man’s cigarette fell down below into the darkness. Not caring about it, much, he only rasped, “Selina, I thought you were gone!”

Glancing up at the stars, she sighed in a dreary way. “No. Where would I go, anyway?” Worrying her lower lip between her teeth, she droned on, “I had a hope that like I said, you could jump, end it all, and I wanted to be the one here to witness it for myself.” An almost quirky, malicious glare presented itself in her eyes, sparking through to Arthur, and the stunned man broke out of his spell and returned her minacious glare with one of his own.

With a primordial growl, he raged, “If you hate me so much, then why don’t you do yourself and favor and leave?”

Although he’d barked this out in such a finalized manner, deep inside, it wasn’t at all what Arthur wanted. Ideally, he wanted her by his side for as long as possible, but in truth, he was still sore with her for her betrayal. Perhaps he could forgive her if she apologized and behaved like a good little kitten, but he doubted she would do that. She was quite aggressive and moody, lately. Rocks would sooner weep.

“I don’t hate you, Fleck,” she grunted while standing up and scowling at him in great amounts of antagonism. “I just hate what I’m about to ask you…that’s the part that really gets to me.”

In confusion, Arthur blinked, and as he did, Selina leapt down from the ledge and plopped down almost too silently before him on the landing of the balcony.

Avoiding her eyes for a moment, Arthur shamefully wondered whether Selina had heard him crying out for her while masturbating before. As careful as he’d been, he had to wonder whether she’d heard him by listening extra carefully…

Paling, he defensively crowed, “I’m not interested in listening, Selina! I just wanted to—”

“Find out about Thomas Wayne,” she accurately finished for him, and when he froze in a dazed shock, she nodded firmly. “I figured,” she urged out with much confidence. “I think it’s still stupid, but you know, you saved my life.”

Dejectedly, Arthur supplied, “Yeah, I know. So what?”

With a tiny lopsided grin, she simply answered, “So what say you we collaborate for now? Hmm?” Before he could spew something else, she went on, “I want something, and so you do, Fleck. I can help you get whatever you’re looking for.”

Her confidence was staggeringly high, on the brink of foolish, and maddening. Arthur didn’t understand it at all, but he stared her head-on as he nodded and asked, “And what do you think I’m looking for, then?”

“Answers,” she drawled with a purr, “you want answers, and I want that mask.”

Eyelids fluttering shut, Arthur sighed placidly, “Selina, it’s…it’s not smart to get in the way of a major crime boss, especially one who is working his way up Gotham’s social ladder of ‘rich assholes’.”

The way he’d phrased it was a tad risible to the younger woman, but she didn’t want to laugh and encourage him. Tapping a finger on her chin, she made sure not to get too close to him while pacing around him. “Sounds like you’ve had your fair share of run ins with Oswald, then,” she assumed out loud. “What can you tell me about him?”

Arthur appeared as though stricken by a bolt of flashing hot, white lightning. Blinking quickly, he gathered his arms about himself while moving half a step backwards. More than uncomfortable with the way the discussion had transgressed, he shifted away from her when she raised her light-colored eyebrows and playfully poked him in the chest. He knew she was teasing him and trying to goad him into a reaction. Hell, he’d known since he’d often played that game with his therapists for the last two years at Arkham State Hospital. But when Selina did it, something in the center of Arthur’s stomach ached with a dull throb he was certain he only experienced when he’d consumed something bad…

What an odd feeling to go through, now…

Leaning against him mindfully, she purred into his ear lewdly. “Come on, Fleck,” panting warm air into his ear sensually, she added with a hint of raw lust, “you need my help, and I need yours, so just talk to me as you used to…”

Drawing half an inch back, Arthur tried creating a gap between their bodies out of a fear of becoming physically responsive to her heat and presence. He was positive another arousal was on its way, and the last thing he needed was to give her more ammunition to hurt him with and use against him.

Frowning while he tried shifting his thoughts away from doing intimate things with her, he’d barely squeezed a word out, when he felt something warm, wet, and slippery slide along the outer shell of his ear before it dipped right inside the ear cannel. With a soft, wistful groan, he realized it was her tongue; she’d licked him. Arthur was truly baffled and mesmerized by how quickly she cycled through her performances. One minute, she could play the part of a pavid woman quite well, and other times, she behaved like a seductive vixen.

“Tell me what you know about Cobblepot, and I promise I’ll make it worth your while, Fleck.”

Trembling uncontrollably, he knew she was only speaking this way in an attempt to propitiate herself and appease him. It was a bold, insolent move, and it disturbed him to consider the possibility that she would stoop so low as to offer herself in a sexual sense to get whatever she wanted. When had she taken up such a filthy habit??

An air of possessiveness, jealousy, and resentment brewed within Arthur. He wasn’t entirely sure where it stemmed from and rooted in, but like bile, it crawled up all the way to his chest, esophagus, coating his internal organs all with bitterness so vile that it offensively appeared right on his face. Hatred oozed out of him, and he regarded Selina with much antipathy.

In quite the standoffish, orotund fashion, he threw out in a mess, “There’s not much to him. Oswald Cobblepot’s from Brighton, England. He was born there, and after racking up plenty wealth and money, he decided to flee and move his assets to North America where it would be more difficult for the authorities to prosecute and arrest him.”

Whistling, Selina commented dryly, “So the birdie flew here, huh? Great.”

Ignoring that odd phrase, Arthur finished, “He dabbles into many things, and he’s not someone you should be stealing from, Selina. Just leave it alone.”

Shaking her head, the obstinate woman snapped curtly, “But _you_ were there, Fleck!”

“So?”

“So it can’t be that bad,” she fired back almost moodily. “If anyone knows the ins and outs of his business, it’ll be you, Fleck, and I need your help just this once.”

Massaging his temples in sheer frustration and annoyance, Arthur tried one last time to get some sense into the young female’s brain. “Selina, Oswald isn’t agreeably persuasive; he won’t give you the mask out of the kindness of his heart, and if you steal it from him, he’ll hunt us _both_ to the ends of the—”

His next words of a warning had been abruptly interrupted and cut short when Selina snatched his jaw and chin in a surprisingly strong grip. Accosting him with a stern glare, she hounded him ferociously. “I make my own way in this world, Fleck,” came her tiny growl. “I’m not afraid of Cobblepot. Now, if _you_ are, then that’s your own business, but at least be a fucking man about it and admit it rather than hiding away like a coward.”

Her words were swasivious, much to Arthur’s chagrin. He didn’t feel too proud of her attacking his masculinity and ego. Wrenching his head out of her hand, he sneered before sniffling. Rubbing his face clear, he spat acerbically, “I’m _not_ afraid of him; I want my answers, and if you’re saying you’ll help, then so be it.”

Grinning at him, she purred in rapture, “That’s the spirit.”

Fixing her with a contemptable glare, Arthur drawled, “Guess we gotta go back to his mansion then?”

Selina’s hand jutted out when he turned and tried heading back inside the room. His chest slammed into the length of her arm, and he leapt back while scowling heatedly at her.

Teeth shining and glimmering dangerously at him, she reproached grumpily, “You’re even dumber than I thought. Why on earth would we go back there? Hmm?” Not even allowing him moment to answer, she snapped viciously, “He knows we’ll be going there; we need to do the opposite.”

Her blatant sarcasm did nothing too grand for uplifting his mood. Not at all afflated by it, Arthur chose to keep his mouth shut to allow her to vilify him and rant on.

And rant, she did.

Waving her arms in agitation, Selina roared, “As idiotic as I think Oswald Cobblepot is, I highly doubt he’ll use the same location to store away all his neat little treasures!” Eyes turning vicious with her plan swirling in her mind, she concluded, “No, he’ll relocate, Fleck, and we need to pick up on the trail as soon as we can.”

Giving a half-nod, Arthur asked softly, “We gotta spy and break in?”

“Nooo,” she rolled her eyes, aiming to be dry and cutting. “We can just walk on right in while Oswald holds open the door for us, offering cigarettes in one hand, while in another, he gifts us with a ‘welcome package’ as a special bonus!!”

…..

Deciding he’d had enough of her churlish attitude for one night, Arthur briskly re-entered the room without another word. His gallant efforts had been shot down, it seemed, and as usual, he felt hated, unwanted, disrespected, and much like an abandoned _thing_ as opposed to a human being with real feelings.

When would it ever end??

While he pondered and questioned this repeatedly, Selina brushed past him, purposefully knocking her shoulder into his. As much as it upset him, he whistled after her when she’d been just inches away from the bathroom door.

Pausing in fury, she whirled around and hissed dangerously, “If you _ever_ do that again around me, Fleck, I swear, you’ll live to regret it until you’re old and grey.”

Waving her threat off, Arthur only leaned down at the floor, hands scraping at something lying beneath the bed. Once he’d found it, he rose to his feet again, and he coughed out, “Here, catch!” Tossing something dark at her, he was amazed to witness her insanely inhuman, speedy reflexes.

Catching the object, Selina frowned down at it and studied its smooth texture. It was long, slightly heavy in her hand, sleek, and deadly if used properly for such a misdeed. With a tiny huff, she asked him, “Where did you get this?”

Bunching up his shoulders, he droned out, “I didn’t get it from anywhere; you were holding onto it when you fell into the boxes and crates, and I didn’t have time to take it away from you.”

She gingerly stroked the object while Arthur inquired carefully, “Think it’ll come in handy?”

As she stretched out the dangerous whip, Selina smirked. “I’ll crack away at it and find out for myself.”

(***’’***”)

They soon left the cloistered motel room in a hurry, with Arthur holding another bag full of clothes while Selina wrapped her new black whip around her waistline. It looped around her form perfectly, with the ends of it hanging down past her back and legs like a tail…

The moment they slunk away from the large, luminous building through the parking lot, police and ambulance sirens blared on through the night, effectively only frightening Arthur to death. He hid behind Selina while they crept down low in a tight alleyway, and when she heard him shivering, the brazen young female snorted.

“And I thought I was the fraidy-cat,” she hummed to herself while searching around the empty streets for an abandoned, vacant vehicle.

Glaring at her, Arthur snapped mordantly, “I risked a lot to get us here! If we’re caught, then—”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Interrupting him, she sighed, “I won’t apologize, though.”

A string of more police cruisers and cops on motorcycles drove on by speedily, creating all the bombastic noise in the world trailing in their wake. The high-pitched sirens and wails echoed vastly in the dark, peaceful night, ringing clear in Selina’s and Arthur’s ears. Once the horde of law-enforcement had passed them by, Selina and Arthur both visibly relaxed.

Softening drastically, Arthur caught on to Selina’s focus when she peered through the dimly lit streets into parked cars close by. Nudging her, he rasped, “What’re you doing?”

Peeking quickly at him, she sighed, “Looking for a car with keys still inside. It’s our best chance at getting out of here sooner rather than later.”

Wincing, Arthur argued vigorously, “We could just take a bus, Selina! Why do you want to break into someone’s car for?!”

“Fleck!” came her cold snarl of a reprehensible reply. “We can’t take all our shit on the bus!! The hell’s wrong with you??”

As she continued scouring the night, she daringly crept out from the protection and shadows of the alleyway. A fractitious Arthur Fleck followed her, nervously glancing about into apartment building windows a few times along the way. Nearly tripping over his own feet in the process, he barely managed to repress a shiver when the chilly night breeze blew by. Selina crept over toward a dark Audi Quattro. The sides of the car had been decorated with a few red and silver circles that shined beneath the streetlights while the interior of the vehicle remained dark with black leather seats.

Peeking inside it, Selina searched about for anything useful. She didn’t need to try the door handles to know the car was locked. Of course it would be, seeing as this car was totally brand-new. There had to be another way in, and as her eyes roamed, she leaned forward enough to squint at the ignition. Nothing was there, of course, and it upset her greatly. Feverishly searching, her body moved along with her head and eyes, bending and twisting as she noticed a dark jacket, a bag, and something shiny dangling from the corner of the bag…

“Hello there,” she cooed at the keys left there behind in the car like a gift waiting to be unwrapped.

Unfortunately, she’d bent enough that her rear had presented itself much too noticeably for Arthur. The older male gave in to his natural, biologically based desires, and he stared at her bottom hungrily. When Selina peeked over her shoulder, she hadn’t caught onto what Arthur was looking at.

“I think I have an idea,” she began, and then stared at the windows again, finally catching onto what was going on with their reflections. Pausing, she sneered when she saw him staring too lewdly at her behind. “Why don’t you take a damn picture, Fleck,” she threw out in a snide hiss. “I promise it’ll last longer.”

Snapping to attention, and then flushing deeply in shame, Arthur muttered his apologies, but Selina wasn’t interested in listening. Wielding her whip like a weapon, Selina turned the heavy handle about in her fingers, aiming it for the window. Counting to ‘three’ silently, she finally grunted, “Here goes nothing.” In the blink of any eye, she thrust the whip forward into the window. It bashed right through the tinted glass, and thankfully, the sound had blasted out and then died down in an instant. To any bystanders or listeners, it more than likely would’ve appeared as if the noises were all a part of the regular violent acts that usually went on within Gotham City these days. No one was going to phone up the police upon hearing the sound of glass breaking in the middle of the night, and they had that on their side.

Pushing through the sharp bits of glass to make way, Selina snuck an arm inside, and unlocked the door. Opening it, she slid herself inside and snatched the keys away from the large bag. Once settled inside, she unlocked the backseat doors for Arthur and hissed, “Get in!!”

To her amazement and utter horror, the thin, lanky male slid in the passenger seat right next to her. The car door dangled open, and Arthur held his bags to his chest for a moment before throwing them over his shoulder. They landed on the backseat, and he sat still for a second. When it grew too quiet for comfort, he turned and stared openly at Selina.

“What?”

…..

“Meow?”

At the sound of the soft, questioning ‘meow’, Arthur and Selina gazed around the car, at each other, and then peered outside the passenger door. Perched neatly on the curb with her long tail swishing impatiently sat Black. The now almost fully-grown feline purred while examining both humans within the vehicle.

In shock, Arthur’s jaw fell open as he assessed the cat. With a pronounced squeak, he coughed out, “You!! Y-you still—she…! You s-still h-have Black with y-you?!?”

Selina rolled her eyes but put the key in the ignition. Turning it and starting up the car with a deep roar, she sighed out in exhaustion while glaring away at Black. “Thought I told you to watch my back, missy!!”

Without a care in the world, Black raised a small paw, and began licking and bathing herself. Her pink, rough tongue scraped along her clean fur, tail twitching the entire time. Selina resisted the urge to honk, so she instead cried out crisply, “We’re leaving, Black!! If you want to chip in, then I suggest you—”

Immediately, the furry feline gave out one clipped, altisonant meow, and then leapt onto Arthur’s lap. He closed the door swiftly as soon as Selina shifted gears into ‘drive’, causing the vehicle to smoothly drive on down the road. Both the engine and the cat purred, causing both Arthur and Selina to peek at Black, especially. Lifting her head plaintively, the cat yawned, ears pulling back while her eyes closed into tiny slits.

Shaking her head dismissively, Selina snorted, “Some partner in crime _you_ are, Black.”

In response to her snide tone and harsh words, Black only pawed and kneaded Arthur’s thighs, spinning in small circles before she eventually located a ‘comfortable’ enough spot to nap. The entirety of the ride, Arthur and Selina didn’t speak to each other, nor did they even look at each other…

Well, Arthur did, but only when he was certain Selina wouldn’t notice.


	22. A Desperate Agreement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it's been a while, but I'm still eager to work on this story and finish it one day!

Arthur had nearly succumbed to much needed sleep, when the car lurched forward and then abruptly stopped all movement. Black stirred in his lap, arching her back and yawning before she bounded towards Selina. The young woman turned off the engine, and as she rolled down her window, Black deftly leapt through it and out into the streets.

Rubbing his aching forehead, Arthur groaned, “Where the hell did you learn how to drive?” Massaging his sore temples, he added bitterly, “I was sleeping!”

Kicking her door open, Selina moodily snapped, “You can drive then, next time.” Her heels clicked away on the slightly dewy asphalt, and Arthur followed her with a small, irritated sigh escaping his lips once he noticed the egestuous neighborhood they’d entered. The night was cool and fresh as they walked at least ten feet before Selina pointed at a large, grey apartment building.

“In there,” she instructed, “my room’s on the fifth floor, so we should hurry up.”

Upon hearing this oddity, Arthur trembled before glaring at her obscurely. “I thought we were on the run,” he pointed out accurately, causing Selina to slow down in her walking, her whip swishing back and forth between her legs.

Her eyes turned dim, and she huffed out impatiently, “Yeah? And? What’s your point?”

Frowning, Arthur threw out sensibly, “We need to avoid busy places; not walk right into them.”

This was bad, bad news, and trouble just waiting to happen. Had she hit her head somewhere? He found it quite off-putting and bizarre, but Selina strolled right up to him in a nanosecond. Wrapping an arm about his, she ignored the look of shock he threw at her before purring, “Hey, moron, did it ever occur to you that there’s a good enough reason for me to bring us both here, hmm? How dumb do you think I am?”

If there was one thing Arthur despised, it was Selina’s petulant attitude as of late, and her ability to really talk down to him and make him feel like an inept dunce more than he naturally felt all by himself. It was something he could go without, and he returned her scornful sneer while she paused before a basement entrance door. She’d walked on without him, and the more she went on, the further Arthur fell behind.

It was good enough punishment for her. The peacefully calm, cool night air also did wonders for his aching body, his raw nerves, and aided in not only separating their bodies from each other but blew off the steam rising from Arthur’s head. Hot tempered, the less than obedible man couldn’t believe that Selina had grown so aggressive lately. They’d been friends, once, and they’d shared a few chaste kisses. How could it have come to this? How could their pleasant, amicable feelings have twisted and warped for worse instead of for better?

The distant sound of police and ambulance sirens, people arguing in another building loudly, a few dogs barking and howling, as well as something breaking in the night served to only build the tension between Selina and Arthur. The old, decadent city of Gotham was menacing in its own right. The parking lot lights hummed and buzzed, a few large bugs and moths flying and flitting about as they were drawn to the luminous ‘beauty’. A single phone booth stood almost directly across from Arthur on the other side of the street, and right now, it was practically calling and beckoning him near.

Taking half a step back, Arthur threw a debauched scowl at Selina. Catching on to what he was doing, she hissed, “Where do you even _suppose_ you’re going, Fleck?”

Feigning oblivescence and forgetfulness, Arthur took another step backwards. “I just…” pathetically, he flinched upon receiving her hateful glare. “…I think I f-forgot s-something…” His hands dove into his pockets, and he began fumbling for a quarter. The sooner he called up a taxi, the faster he could leave the damn city before it came down crumbling over his head.

Selina faced him completely, eyes glowing dangerously. For a moment, it appeared as though she was silently punishing Arthur. Was she holding him under severe obstriction while her candescent eyes resonated deeply within himself? He knew he was doing something ‘wrong’, but this was the only way…he had to do this, he _had_ to see this through…

“Fleck,” came her growl, almost as dangerous as a rumble of thunder about in the decadent sky.

Weakly, Arthur rasped, “Selina…I…”

Not at all relenting, the young woman warned dangerously, “Take another step, and I swear, you’ll be wishing you hadn’t, Fleck.”

He did, anyway. A gaumless, foolish move on his part, but Arthur had been quite certain she was only threatening him. The moment the cold, shiny roundness of the quarter slid into his open palm, he’d spun around on his heels and tried making a break for it. Behind himself, he soon heard a resolute ‘CRACK!’

“Warning one!”

CRACK!

Cutting through the air came the whip, and it coiled and wrapped around Arthur’s chest like slimy, glaireous eel. She had perfect aim and precision; he gave her that, mentally. Before he could wriggle out of his ‘binding’, Selina roared a small war-like cry, and she tugged back as much as she could on the whip. Arthur turned about in circles, mind already messy and dizzy due to the queasy motions. Turning about, he couldn’t put up much of a fight while she yanked him all the way towards herself. When they were barely an inch apart, Selina ceased pulling on the handle of the whip.

Fixing Arthur with a deadly glare that seemed to dish out more threats than anything the woman could’ve stated out loud, Selina’s tongue clicked against her teeth before she curled an index finger beneath Arthur’s chin. He closed his eyes and turned his head away, but she continued on a depraved note.

“Run away again, and I’ll do more than hurt you, Fleck.” Her warning was crisp, clear, and it promised a lot…but Arthur had something of his own personal rebuttal for her, and he wasn’t going to stand down at all.

With all the resentment he could muster, he courageously stared at her in such a dominant, aggressive manner, that she visible shied away from it and emitted a strained croak. Behind them, among the long, uncut blades of grass hopped and sounded about some crickets, chirping as though serenading them sweetly. The cold night settled and enveloped them, but it did very little to soothe the mounting tension that had been steadfastly brewing since they reconnected.

Almost trembling enough to an explosive point, Arthur rasped and wheezed on the deepest growl he could conjure up, “You’ve _already_ hurt me plenty, Selina, so your threats won’t work on me, you know.” Finishing it up with a curt nod, he knew that she had no argument at all.

What could she say, truly?

Relaxing her hold on the whip, Selina released Arthur reluctantly. Her eyes darted to the side while he wriggled out of the long whip, letting it clatter dully on the wet pavement. It seemed that the sound knocked into Selina’s skull and echoed in her ears long and hard enough to get her going. Turning to face Arthur, she watched in dull, heavy silence as he approached the basement door and waited for her to join him.

She had nothing to offer him, so she merely stalked on ahead, carefully picking the lock as she had many, many times before when she’d had her keys stolen, and then taken away by the apartment building owners due to her not being able to afford rent. It was home as much as ‘home’ was defined to herself, and as she pushed the heavy door open, that old, familiar musky scent of moisture encased in cigarette smoke both tickled and offended her olfactory senses. It was a disgusting, deplorable place, and it brought Selina many negative, sad memories. At the same time, this had been her ‘hideout’ for quite a long period of time, far away from Holly’s dangerous and looming threats when her pimp learned of this area.

But what was it, now? What delightful purpose did it serve?

Stumbling about in the dark, Arthur asked the same question she’d been mentally going over. “What’s the point of coming here, again?”

A pair of yellow-green eyes glowed eerily in the darkness next to them, and Black purred while rubbing her head against Selina’s ankles. Guiding the way forward, Selina calmly explained, “We need to regroup here, Fleck; we can’t just go in guns blazing into Oswald’s fancy igloo, right?” He hummed his agreement, and she finished hurriedly, “I need to make a new suit and you need to relax a bit.”

Interested in where the conversation was headed, Arthur cried out in zeal, “A suit? What suit?” His mind was soaring in all sorts of directions, but rather than allowing himself to get too excited, he wanted for her to speak.

They climbed up at least three flights of stairs before Selina finally broke out of her dramatic silence, thankfully. Chuckling mysteriously, she whispered almost seductively, “A cat suit, of course; it’s who I am, Fleck…it’s who I’ve always been…”

Off-handedly, he asked himself more than her, “Who are you, now?”

When her eyes mischievously glowed as much as Black’s beneath the tiny lights within the stairwell, Arthur nervously gulped as he stood equally before her. She took her time, toying with distance between their bodies and with her words. Psychologically, she already had the upper hand, and they both knew it. Still, that did little to prevent her from really enjoying her sense of superiority in the current situation.

Stomach suddenly queasy for some unknown reason and cause, Arthur attempted to walk past her, when her hand dashed out and gripped him roughly by the chin. Biting down roughly on his own tongue, flashes of pain flew up and down his mouth while he stood perfectly frozen on the spot.

Eyes surveying him as though inspecting and examining a meal she was about to thoroughly devour, Selina leaned right against Arthur, their noses practically touching in a faint ‘kiss’. She smiled wider than he’d ever seen her smiling in a long, long time, and her fresh, minty scented breath toyed with his nostrils and upper lip anytime she exhaled in tiny puffs.

“I am Catwoman…”

(***’’***”)

Selina let them both into her tiny apartment minutes after they crept into the narrow hallway leading right up to her old, moldy door. She warned him not to touch anything, and not one for basking in an argument, Arthur obediently kept his hands and feet to himself. He awkwardly stood in her ‘living room’-the huge mess of it, anyway, trying his hardest not to gape too long at her array and assortment of messy clothes. Lingerie and fishnet stockings hung about on the armrests of sofas and on curtain rods, almost far too salacious and licentious for Arthur to handle.

Nervously, he fidgeted while pushing out softly, “A-are th-these…yours?”

Black boldly leapt on top of a coffee table completely covered in magazines, licking her paws and giving herself a much-needed bath. She twisted herself into interesting positions, purring louder than the steady hum of Selina’s ancient, yellow-stained fridge in her kitchen.

Selina sauntered over to Arthur, noticing where he’d been nervously glancing. Tossing him an immoral look, she answered shortly, “No, they belonged to my friend, Holly.”

“Oh…” He went pale in the face before timorously asking, “Err, why would she need them?”

Rolling her eyes impatiently, Selina marched about the messy apartment, trying to locate the essentials she needed the most right now, but it was tricky in such a crazy, disorderly place. The apartment was so badly disorganized that she was lucky enough to see her own nose on the end of her face. Mountains of clothing piled up on the floor, while heaps of garbage bags filled with pillows, blankets, quilts, curtains, and hair care products lazed about between. The apartment was beyond dusty, with the pictures hanging crooked on the walls. Evidently, it bothered Arthur to the point where he volunteered to pace about, straightening the picture frames as best as he could before staring at his own feet awkwardly.

Not that Selina blamed him at all; she was even ashamed of the state of her own living conditions. The carpet smelled as filthy as it looked, the walls and ceiling appeared both in yellow and grey patches. Furniture was stained, it reeked of booze and cigarettes, dishes were piled up in the kitchen sink, as well as the kitchen counters. Cupboard doors were half open, as were drawers. Everything was out of its rightful place, and Selina wagered that it would take at least five people two whole days to clean out just half the apartment.

What a disgusting mess.

Skirting around Arthur, she remembered his previous question and bashfully coughed out, “Holly w-was a stripper at one point until she began working as a c-call girl for the East End.”

Right about now, a digression was something they both could utilize to escape the painful direction the conversation had taken. Volunteering to do just that, Arthur croaked in a pained way, “M-may I use the bathroom?”

Pointing down the hall, Selina cried out, “First door on the right.”

Almost jogging, Arthur hurried along, not even bothering to completely close the door after himself. He just needed some much-craved space, and he let out a relieved sigh once he’d flicked on the bathroom lights.

….

He’d felt relaxed, until he took a good look around the bathroom.

It was in shambles, much like the rest of the apartment, but Arthur found that the bathroom wasn’t a place he should’ve been caught dead in. The medicine cabinet hanging on the wall just barely by a few nails and hooks dandled awkwardly. The cupboard and vanity doors were open, and Arthur cringed when he saw feminine hygiene products, birth control pills, a box of condoms, as well as plenty of toothpaste, dental floss, toothpicks, as well as perfume. It all threatened to spill forth from the cabinet, so Arthur glanced away from it.

Face beet red, he tried drowning out the steady ‘drip, drip’ sounds emanating from the leaky sink faucets, but it was nothing in comparison to the frightening sight of turning himself around to face the shower, only to discover a few newly washed bras, thongs, and other colorful lingerie draped and hanging on the shower curtain rod.

“Oh no,” he murmured to himself, yet he so foolishly approached close enough to reach out and touch the material. One of the black bras was thick and had a lot of padding on the breasts. Wondering just what it was made from, he stroked it while his eyes squinted inquisitively at it. Turning it over, he studied the inside of it for any tags or special markings…

SLAM!

With a loud yelp of utter surprise, Arthur let go of the bra, whirling around to face Selina Kyle standing only an inch before himself. She tilted her head curiously at him, and he placed a hand over his beating heart while praying it wouldn’t explode.

“The hell are you—”

“I get mine in Kevlar, usually,” she sighed in a bored tone, bending to pick up the bra before tossing it back over her right shoulder. With a bit of a sexualized wink, she purred, “Didn’t take you for a perv, Fleck.”

Trying to save face, Arthur sputtered brokenly, “I’m n-not a pervert! I was j-just—”

Slamming her body against his, she effectively shut him up while hissing in his ear hotly, “I didn’t say it was a bad thing; I like it.” Stepping back, she ogled him playfully before a cruel expression crossed over her features. An ombré presence weighed heavily in the small bathroom, mostly emanating from Selina while she huffed bossily, “Don’t touch parts of my suit.” 

“I got it,” Arthur spat at her, shoving himself out the door while she searched for whatever it was she needed before following him out. Arthur continuously observed her while she ran about from room to room, closet to closet, throwing out needles, scissors, thread, pins, thumbtacks, tiny wires, bits and pieces from a broken radio, glass, and an assortment of other articles of leather-like clothing. Carrying her bundle towards the living room, Selina unceremoniously dumped them onto the coffee table. Plopping herself down onto a pillow, she set out whatever she wanted to use first before herself. Switching on a nearby table lamp, she gazed outside at the dark night while shaking her head.

Unsure of what to do, Arthur stood plainly in the center of the living room, still watching her every move. Selina held up a glove, fitting it onto her right hand before humming to herself, “Good fit…seems appropriate.” Setting it back down onto the table, she paused before glaring up at Arthur. “Sit down, you weirdo!”

Right away, Arthur found his feet were aching, and to relieve himself of that troublesome pain, he sat down on a few dirty pillows on the other side of the coffee table facing Selina. She worked steadfastly on her little ‘project’, shaping and molding the round part of her jacket hood into what appeared to be a head bearing pointy, sharp tiny ears…like a cat’s…

Scratching the back of his head nervously, Arthur inquired with mild interest, “Are you going to work on that all night?”

“Mhm,” she nodded, searching around for her scissors. Snipping away at bits of loose thread, she continued to attach and sew on other bits and pieces of her suit nearly and almost with far too much expertise. Arthur was enthralled and reeled in by how her small fingers curled around the needle while her hands moved in well-practiced motions, up and down, up and down, back and forth. She was making it look too easy, and beyond artistic.

While she worked, she must’ve felt quite warm. Soon, she took off the jacket she’d had draped over her small shoulders, and she had to have changed into a black tank top from the time he was in the bathroom. It didn’t hide away much of her skin, but it seemed to help her. Arthur tried not to stare at her form for too long, but it was a difficult feat when beads of sweat trickled and slid down from her neck right down to her cleavage. A few messy tendrils of her blonde hair clung to her neck, dangling almost like a curtain about her long, slender throat. Her skin was so creamy and smooth, that Arthur wanted to lick and lap away at it as though it were sweet candy…she looked so soft…

He bit back a groan, knowing he was already half-erect between his legs. It was embarrassing!

Peeking at him between her lashes, she sighed impatiently, “You can sleep if you want; I may be all night with this, especially seeing as I don’t have my night vision goggles anymore, and maybe the telecommunication device needs further testing for it to work.”

Not wanting to sleep in case his dreams wandered off in all the wrong places, Arthur shook his head while he pushed out carefully, “No…just tell me about your friend Holly…why isn’t she here with you now?”

Emitting a hot puff of air, Selina’s eyebrows rose high to her brow line. “Long story,” she expounded quietly, “but let’s just say that Holly’s got some nasty friends who want to take advantage of her more than she can give.” The painful memories slammed into herself like a powerful hammer, and Selina had to slow down in her work. Chewing her lower lip in sheer frustration, she nervously spat out, “After the stint I pulled that landed me in Arkham State Hospital, I just couldn’t risk going to Holly.”

Nodding, Arthur asked, “She has her own place?”

“Yeah, we had one together, kinda,” Selina explained in a drone. “See, we were sharing a rent a bit, but we had bigger dreams…we were supposed to get a townhouse or something. She was a hard worker, and I…” Interrupting herself before she’d divulged too much, she shook her head. “Forget that.”

Arthur appeared concerned for a moment, but then wiped the expression off his face. Settling back further against the pillows, he rocked back and forth on his bum while gathering his legs into his chest. Much like a young child, he continued moving while Selina worked. They sat that way for nearly twenty minutes in silence, when Selina grew weary of it. She didn’t know why, but she felt the age-old burning itch rising within the pit of her belly and up her chest to poke and jab at him. More than ever, she wanted to bully and mock him…

Giving in to her odd desires, she tried bitterly, “So, what the hell did you do for a living, again?”

Though it hadn’t escaped her mind, Arthur still replied smoothly, “I was a party clown.”

The way Arthur always phrased his replies was truly grating. Fiendishly, Selina accepted true resentment and disgust for the man seeping into her system. She was incapable of holding it back while she muttered cruelly, “So is that the new, fancy term for ‘loser’ these days?”

….

Arthur looked as though he was going to explode at any minute. He ceased rocking, his eyes grew round, dark, and hateful. His left eyelid twitched, but he forced a grimace onto his face that slowly broke off into a pained smile. It looked horrific on him the more his face reddened, but Selina at least had the excuse of toying with her thread and needle than to look at his warped visage. To look would only render her speechless and fearful, which she didn’t want to be right now before him.

Neck cracking when he turned to stare out the window, Arthur only barked out emphatically, “No. I was a _party clown_ ; I told jokes, I sang, I danced, I went to many birthday parties, I visited hospitals, and a lot of kids were my friends and liked me!”

Blinking rapidly, Selina crooned, “Alrighty, you don’t need to overcompensate for anything, Fleck. Besides, I spoke with one of your co-workers in Arkham State Hospital, and he confirmed that you guys were in that line of work.” She cut away at her thread, holding another piece of it between her little white teeth while squinting as much as she could to follow the pattern of the back of her suit she’d designed out for herself.

Inching straight to attention, Arthur gasped, “You mean ‘Gumbo Junior’??” A lot of utter contempt took over his face before he concluded, “He’s a liar…just like _you_ , Selina.”

Setting down her items, Selina growled in disdain, “Piss off, Fleck! I’m not in the mood to argue!” She’d been about to head out of the living room to work somewhere else, when Arthur glared away after her so harshly that it made her pause for a second.

Hatred stretched out between them, and the crickets as well as other nocturnal animals made their own particular sounds down below in the apartment yards. It felt so cold for both Arthur and Selina, suddenly, and they couldn’t scowl at each other any longer. She wrapped her arms around herself, while he placed both his hands on his knees and just stared down at his lap in shame.

Chin quivering, he wheezed, “You…you betrayed me in the worst way, Selina…it’s n-not something I can forget, and believe me, I’ve tried.” His negaholic thoughts about her seemed to portray themselves openly on his face, even though he was working on concealing them from her.

She didn’t need the guilt. Deciding to try out honesty, Selina weakly responded, “I didn’t have much of a choice; he said he was going to help me get out of Arkham faster.”

Arthur sniffled, but didn’t offer her any words. This enabled Selina to feel even worse, and she hated him for it. As disgruntled as he appeared to be, she found she much preferred him throwing out cold, barbed words and insults at her as opposed to sitting and stewing away in sheer silence. She hated this silent treatment, and like the nosy person she was, she wanted to know what he was thinking about.

Gingerly, she took a step closer to him, but then he held out a hand. Like blaring red lights or the honking sounds of a hundred horns, his single motion got to her greatly. Swallowing nervously, she’d tried offering something in the way of a timorous apology. Try as she might, she knew it was all hopeless. Above all, she knew it would be of no use after everything that’d happened…

As if proving her point as well as bringing life to her trepidation and innermost fears, he didn’t lower his hand, not even when he barked out aggressively, “Don’t. Just let me be for tonight.”

Enough had been said; she left him completely alone.


	23. The Marigold Wishes

_They were alone once again, and it was something they’d both been yearning for. He was standing by the window before he took to leaning his weight against it, and she remained aware of her own distance, pressing her smaller frame against the wall opposite him. Though they hadn’t been together in the same room in so long, it proved to be the ‘medicine’ they’d required in the way of a cure for whatever ailed them…_

_Cautiously, his warm, passionate dark eyes assessed her. Though she wasn’t feeling uncomfortable, she felt exposed beneath his gaze. Lust was churning between them both, and it would only be a matter of time before…_

_…._

_No. She wouldn’t. She refused, and in the way of proving how much she was willing to refuse such a thing, she bolted for the door._

_“No, please…stay,” the mysterious man suddenly said, grabbing her arm with an air of burning urgency. His firm and warm grip made her turn._

_She looked down at him and remarked how beautiful his eyes were. How sad and lonely too. Why did he do that? Why did he gaze upon her like a starved man??_

_Selina thought she knew, but she wouldn’t dare venture forth with her assumptions out loud. She was sad and lonely too, after all, and she didn’t want to lose him now that she had him right beside herself, gazing longingly into her eyes just as much as she returned the forlorn stare with one of her own._

_That gaze seemed to be endless. They could have stayed there for hours, for days, for years. Who would move first? Did she want him to make the first move?? She found she couldn’t entirely be certain of it, but her heart was racing. It beat wildly against her ribcage, so hard that she wondered if he could hear it…though perhaps not; he too was breathing and panting quite loudly._

_Moments ticked by and their breaths were only intensifying. She tried to resist the temptation and voice screaming in her mind to make him hers. Oh, how she’d wanted to obey the more logical, conscientious voice that warned her against even so much as touching him, but she couldn’t hold back, anymore. And she knew he couldn’t either when his fingers trickled down her sides and onto her hips almost like spidery wisps._

_For a reason she couldn’t explain, she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down and kissed him passionately. He responded immediately, drawing her nearer, making her sit down on his lap._

_Pleased she was taking the lead, he held her carefully, fingers gliding through her soft, blonde hair while his lips worked over hers too sensually. He slowly changed the placement of his hands from on her hair down to her hip bones, gently caressing them. She moved her dainty, quivering hands onto his broad chest, seeking desperately for some warmth. Then, a crack echoed on the other side of the thick door like a shotgun blast in the peaceful night._

_They both stopped, looking, searching, waiting for someone to enter. There was no one. It was only the sound of an old house during a harsh storm. Or probably, the spirits were just protesting against the view of that scabrous act. Nevertheless, they didn’t care. All the pressure, the presence of death, the omnipresent coldness had made them surrender. They had to change their minds-in a way-and let the passion invade them. They needed to chase it all away._

_Without a word, Selina took the man she was accepting as a lover by the hand and led him in a nearby bedroom. He followed her and closed the door behind them. Everything glowed and morphed so wonderfully, and in her heady lust, Selina wrapped her arms around him tightly once more._

_Perhaps he’d tried to say something at one point, pursing his lips, but what could he add when her mouth attacked his? She was indeed the most beautiful woman he had ever met and seen so close, but she was so young. If only had he been younger...and unscathed._

_When she broke their embrace, she glanced up at him in question. Yes…yes…while it may not have been the right place to think of doing such a thing, she had already decided it was going to be. This union was theirs for the taking._

_Selina would give in to such an act, if just for one night…was this their only chance?? She couldn’t tell, but the moment his tongue lapped at her lips, begging for the right to enter the hot, warm cavern of her waiting and supple mouth, she ceased questioning everything. It was just time to feel._

_Well, it wouldn’t be that difficult; he was hardly looking at her anymore and instead, he began delivering such sensational passion to her mouth alone. Lips feverishly consumed her own, and she gasped, granting him that permission to slide his tongue gently into her mouth. She’d allowed him to stare at her ages ago to mark her as his own._

_Even at the beginning of their frequentations, he’d never given away that he’d felt such an emotion for her. If Selina had her doubts before, now, they’d evaporated into the wind. She could tell that he was only keeping his eyes closed because just looking at her was making him dizzy._ _There was only one thing he was thinking about and she knew it was so deliciously right. And above all, she knew it was very exciting._

_Soon, he took control, pushing her towards the bed carefully while his mouth attacked hers._

_He didn’t even seem to want to allow her a moment to breathe; he drew her near himself, feeling her curves on his body. They kissed like they did before, but it was much stronger, now. As much as he could feel her shape and form, she could feel his, all rigid with sinewy muscle._

_What a lustful creation..._

_He moved his lips on hers, pressing his hands on her hips. She did the same thing. He then let go of her mouth, touching his tongue lightly to her chin, following the line of her small dimple and sliding it down to her neck. Inspired by some hidden instincts, he started kissing her neck, sucking and biting it, always slightly. She grabbed his hair-his wavy and curly hair-and moaned deeply at his actions._

_When she’d cooed something incoherently, he looked up at her bright blue eyes, smiling divinely. Such a sweet, sweet smile. It made her ache for him, and she didn’t know what to do. She was positive that if he didn’t start touching her, she would likely implode and expire right on the spot._

_She smiled back mischievously when she knew they weren’t going to be disturbed by anyone._

_At this revelation, she kissed him again, slower than the first few times. There was no urge, she thought, except for the urge of their passion. But nobody would disturb them, now. They were free to go through their fancy. Her hands made their way up to his scarf and undid it. After, she unbuttoned his vest so she could finally feel his warmth under the shirt. Her lips left his mouth to taste his neck. He moaned, approving by caressing her back, her hips, then her plump bottom._

_Grabbing her waist, the man changed places with her, turning her back to the wall. His hands tried to pull down her black suit low enough so it could reveal her breasts. Working the straps down piece by piece, he slowly started to touch them, and then looked at her and kissed her on the mouth again. With her obvious approbation, he slid down to them, longingly kissing her neck on the way, then her breasts._

_Selina gasped as she felt his mouth and tongue around one of her nipples, his other hand busy fondling her other breast. While continuing to suck the nipple, his hands started to freely move up and down her body, learning to know each part of it._

_Selina passed her arms around the man’s long neck, holding him strongly. In turn, he grabbed her underwear and tugged it down, touching the silky-smooth essence of her legs along the way. He slowly caressed her inner thighs, growling in delight once she parted them._

_She shivered, the passion invading her too much too suddenly. Her heart was throbbing, her breathing was quickening, as was his. She felt a burning between her legs and rubbed her body stronger against the man, a clear sign that she wanted him so badly. Pressing her right cheek on his own, she kissed him slowly on the ear, softly licking his earlobe._

_“Please,” she whispered, breathlessly, “…please m-make love to me…”_

_He moved his face to encounter hers. Parting her lips, he slid his tongue deeply inside her mouth. He hesitated a bit with his hands, but Selina replied to him, encouraging him by pushing her tongue further in a dance with his. Her hands went down on his, showing him how to fondle the skin of her legs._

_He suddenly pulled away from Selina, looking deeply and lovingly into her eyes. They were both panting, lustful, hair in disarray. She grinned when she saw how lost he was…she’d been responsible for doing this to him, and she loved it. No longer was she a pusillanimous little girl…_

_In no time at all, he recovered, and he set to pleasing her. Taking his thick length out of his pants, the man rushed feverishly back to the young woman’s swollen lips._ _He then slowly pulled her up along the wall, opening her legs so she fit perfectly around his waist. His tender hands held her thighs while she powerfully embraced his shoulders, already twitching in anticipation of what was to come next._

_And then he entered her._

_Selina gasped at the first thrust. It was sudden, but gentle. The young woman had no doubt experienced far worse in the form of physical violence before, and she could bear this. She pursed her lips while beads of sweat pooled around her forehead and on the tip of her nose. Her first sexual experience hadn’t been too bad, she decided. This man was a gentle, attentive lover already from the way he held her, and she wanted for much more of this…yes, many more repetitions._

_She smiled and moaned when he kissed her soothingly on the neck as though seeking penance for hurting her. He answered to her with a similar sound, his lips lying on her cheek. She could feel his quick breath on her skin the moment he gently pushed in once more so she could adjust and accept more of his length. She could hear it as he sheathed himself within her hot depths._

_She writhed, wrapping her legs as strongly as she could around her lover’s hips. Rubbing herself against him, trying to follow his rhythm, the thrills ran deeply across her whole body. The burning tension built up until she reached the blissful point of ecstasy. She moaned and clung herself tightly to the man’s powerful body. He kissed her on the cheek and continued to plunge into her warmth, each time moving and working faster and faster, like a man who’d held back for too long._

_He wouldn’t last much longer, though, and they could both feel it whenever his hips snapped into hers. After delivering one final herculean thrust, he released himself inside her with a deep grunt. They kissed again, softer, both clearly beyond exhausted. They soothed the passion away by sliding off the wall as one, still connected at their hips._

_Selina then slowly went down to her feet. Her legs were weak, and she was dizzy. She could hardly stand still. She pressed her body against her lover’s for support. He hugged her back, sighing in pure relief and ecstasy. They found some peace in the silence, the only sound being of their shuddering breaths. However, they both knew they had to come back to reality._

_Selina first pulled back, looking up at the man who’d brought her so much pleasure as a young person, that she was certain she would weep. She wanted and needed to look at him so badly…was he in joyous tear as she was??_

_Drawing back, she glanced at him, taking in his entire visage slowly._

_Upon seeing just who it was, she felt fear flooding into herself, consuming her, and seizing her by the heart. It clutched at the muscle, not at all allowing it to even pump once. Feeling as though she was going to die, she screamed out a bloodcurdling scream, eyes not even once blinking._

_Arthur Fleck._

_…._

_ARTHUR FLECK!_

Rearing up at once, Selina choked on the infernal man’s name. The first thing her eyes registered when she awoke was the burning hues of the orange-yellow lights emanating from her table lamps, as well as the two odd bulbs hanging from her ceiling. She was back in her filthy apartment, and as she gaped about, she noticed that she’d fallen asleep right on top of a bundle of sullied sheets and plastic bags. Anytime she shifted, they crinkled noisily.

She felt she was holding something, and when Selina peered down at her lap, she saw her new cat suit all ready and stitched up. It was made from a black, faux leather jumpsuit and mask with faux stitching detail outlining the shape of a cat’s skull. Since she didn’t have her goggles any longer, she left out eye sockets purposefully with the intention of wearing enough dark makeup and eyeliner that she wouldn’t be noticed in the darkest of nights.

Her sleek jumpsuit had a mock neck design, long sleeves, faux stitching design, and back zipper closure. The back had a lovely corset stitching, looping around all the way to rest down to her spine. It would squeeze and hold her in all the right places, and she found she loved it.

Perfect…

Studying her suit long enough, she didn’t notice Arthur sitting behind herself, stretched out on a dark sofa.

Staring at her shoulders, he softly inquired, “Did you have a nice sleep?”

Screaming in terror, Selina turned about, and her quick motions resulted in a few bags and books sitting atop the large heap she’d taken refuge over to topple down. Clumsily, she rolled out of the way, but a few of the magazines and books knocked into her, anyway. Hissing in her mortification, she sat up on her knees and threw a nasty glare up at Arthur.

The man only studied his hands resting in his lap while he muttered, “I think you slept well. Sounded like you had a good dream to me.”

His implications aided in her dream flooding into her mind once again. Fresh in her thoughts, she recalled seeing only his face while he’d embraced her, kissed her, touched her, and made love to her…just as she’d asked of him…

Feeling dizzy and nauseous, Selina weakly protested, “It wasn’t…like…just…ugh!” Tugging at her hair strands, she wailed at the ceiling, “Stop being a childish pervert! I just had a nightmare!”

Half true, she hoped he would buy it and just leave it at that.

Regarding her carefully, a patient Arthur Fleck only grunted, “Uh huh. I still say it sounded like one _hell_ of a good dream.”

“Nightmare!” She corrected, “It was a _nightmare_ , Fleck, and it’s over, so please, drop the subject!” Pushing her messy, tangled hair out of her face, she turned and caught Black resting right on top of a loveseat’s armrest right above her head. The feline threw her a dirty glare, almost as though chastising her and admonishing her for lying.

Already through with everyone and everything in the room around herself, Selina groaned out her question, “What’s the damn time?”

Arthur swiftly answered, “Almost three in the morning.”

“Fuck,” she cursed, wondering just how the hell she’d lost so much time so easily. It was unbecoming of her, and she felt too weak…especially in front of Arthur Fleck. He’d already witnessed a lot of her weaker points, and she felt even more frustrated with herself that like a blundering novice, she’d left herself so open and vulnerable by falling asleep in the same room as him.

He could’ve robbed her blind, even though she had heaps of useless, unwanted trash. He could’ve set the room on fire, he could’ve even…no…she didn’t want to even think of him doing that, and she cut that thought right out just as it dawned unto her.

Without nothing else to say, she only repeated, “Fuck!”

Licking his lips, Arthur hummed, “Yes, I think that would help us both, actually.”

Nearly having missed his dirty, visceral implications, she rudely spat, “Excuse me, Fleck?! Wanna repeat that?!”

Thankfully, he didn’t; he only smiled his wide, stupid smile that always gave her the damn creeps. Fine then. He could look at her that way all he liked…provided she was _in_ the room to begin with.

Getting on her feet, Selina announced dully, “My suit’s ready, so I think we should slowly pack up and get out of here.” Stopping herself for a moment, she yet again acquiesced to her ‘bratty’ and petulant nature. Wanting to get the last word in edgewise, she sniped viciously, “Unless you have any other bright ideas of how we can pass the time?”

Taking her up on that offer, Arthur quickly fired out, “Remember when you kissed me?”

….

All too quietly, Selina squeaked, “Yeah…s-so?”

Winking playfully, Arthur prodded, “Then what’s wrong with doing more?” Wanting to be specific in every way, he sat up enough to face her directly. Sighing deeply, he clarified, “What’s wrong with fucking?”

Selina’s knees buckled, but she held her ground. It seemed relatively obvious to her that aside from his maladroitness, he was more than likely attempting to make her feel as uncomfortable as ever. He wanted to toy with her, push her to her limits, and all for sport. She hated people like him. She hated beasts, and she wanted nothing more than to have Arthur Fleck wiped and eradicated off the surface of the planet. That was her one and only wish.

But she couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t even fathom how she would string the words along, so she didn’t rely on her mouth and tongue to speak. Instead, in the blink of an eye, she lunged at him.

Landing on his lap, she cupped his warm, smooth cheeks in both hands, and she firmly planted her lips on his. Arthur stared at her for a moment, but then his eyes snapped shut. Pressing against her, he’d barely had time to hold onto her shoulders and work his tongue past his own lips to touch hers, when she abruptly broke their kiss.

Moving off him, she sneered, wiped her mouth furiously with the back of a hand, and then dangerously warned, “Watch your damn mouth from now on.”

As she exited the room and left him to his own devices, Arthur leaned back against the seats of the couch, rounds of giggling and sinister laughter escaping himself uncontrollably. He laughed all night.

(***’’***”)

His mother had often told him that things would get better in the morning after a good night’s sleep. When the sun would rise, all the darkness would go away, and all his nightmares would disappear. The childlike, boyish Arthur Fleck had of course believed in that. Back then, his mother was ‘God’ in his eyes, and she could do no harm. Naturally, he’d caved into every word she’d uttered and whispered into his ears, and he truly took them to heart as reality.

She would never hurt him and lie to him, so he’d believed her…

Until he grew older and learned that monsters didn’t necessarily need the cover of the darkness in order to harm others and make them suffer. No, monsters were just as strong and scary in the daytime, too, and they walked among everyone else, easily. They were hidden among crowds and society, lurking between managers, store owners, bankers, bus drivers…they were everywhere and could be anyone.

He hated them all, and there was no room for discrimination. Strangely, he’d accepted and was well aware of his bitter cynicism and hatred for them, and yet he’d never once felt that way for Selina Kyle.

Why?

She’d betrayed him, she’d lied to him, she’d used him, and she’d done enough to break his heart and his trust. Why wouldn’t he loathe her, want her to suffer, and want her possibly dead just like Murray Franklin, his boss, his mother…

Why? What was so special about her? She was…wasn’t she evil?

Blood boiling while he sat and stewed in her kitchen, Arthur made himself a rather shitty cup of coffee that hardly even tasted like coffee, and then had a cigarette. He opened the windows enough for Black to venture out, and as he sat and wondered about just who and what Selina Kyle was, the young woman had a shower.

Arthur could hear her brushing her teeth before slipping into the tub, the sounds of running water beating down into his brain. Unfortunately, along with notions of the shower came to him the idea that she was stark naked on the other side of the apartment.

Cursing himself and his natural biological responses and urges, Arthur knew he couldn’t spend the rest of his time around her slouching about grumpily. It was time to at least be sincere and honest with himself.

Understanding himself at his most basic instinct, Arthur knew he wanted to fuck her. That much had been obvious to himself for months, even after they’d ended their friendship and trusting bond. He hated to go over the fact that like some sap, he’d thought of her almost every night since their escape, and usually, those thoughts ended with him touching himself while desperately crying out for her.

In many ways, Arthur knew she was capable of ophelimity and bestowing it unto him. However, for her, she’d played him like a fiddle many times over, while he was more than obsessed with her.

Where was the logic and justice in all that?

….

But she’d kissed him…last night, willingly and of her own volition, Selina Kyle had kissed him…dear God above, her kisses were notorious for turning him on, but also, at the same time, he yearned for something above and beyond all that. Negotiating it back and forth between his wants, desires, and his need for survival didn’t help.

Though he didn’t wish to ever be hurt again, especially by a woman, he couldn’t deny himself pleasures in life. He wanted Selina, he wanted to know more about her, and he wanted her to desire for him as much as he desired for her. Wherever they were, whatever they discussed, and no matter how angry he was with her, only Selina Kyle possessed the ability and skills in order to make him feel torpid, somnolent, warm, and full of butterflies on the inside.

…Yes, he knew very well he was absolutely in love with Selina Kyle. Love was stupid, love was blind, love held no bias. No matter how much his brain and conscience shouted and warned him that she was no good, his heart ignored them. His heart felt that no matter how much Selina hurt, vilified, tormented, and attacked him, his feelings would always remain the same. They were true, they were clear, and he knew they were going to land him in a heap of trouble.

And yet, he _still_ insisted upon cherishing those feelings. They left him feeling so warm…she made him feel so many new things, and she’d been the one to awaken him to a beauteous, heady rush, brought on like the bright sun shining early on a languid summer’s day. That feeling alone vastly overpowered any diminutive, miniscule feelings of irritation, anger, and resentment Selina created and brought him. For her, Arthur felt he was willing to do anything, and willing to go through any ordeal just to see her smile, and to hear her laugh…

He hated being in love, but he also enjoyed it tremendously. Knowing he hadn’t ever experienced anything this sensational and deep for another woman ever before in his life ensured that the irreverent and often indolent man no longer felt lazy, lethargic, and useless. It was the opposite; her magnetic personality reeled him in, and he’d fallen for her, hook, line, and sinker.

Sure, she was quite ambivalent at times, and perhaps more so than he could tolerate and handle when under stress, but Arthur genuinely fond he cared about this bold, annoying, daring, saucy young woman. Truth be told, he was finding it increasingly more difficult to even imagine what life would be like without her in it…next to him…

And at once, the bathroom door unlocked, and Selina walked out while towel drying her long, wet blonde hair. It held such luster and shine when she walked past the windows, the light of the early morning highlighting her already gorgeous shade of hair color. Arthur had never seen such scenic beauty in blondes before, nor were they usually his ‘type’, if he was being sincere and honest with himself.

While he sat assessing her in silence, Selina mused out loud with much impudence, “No shower for you, huh? Filthy.”

Immediately turned off by her standoffish demeanor, Arthur drawled, “I’ll be quick; wait for me.”

“Mhm,” came her single and nonverbal reply while he sauntered over into the bathroom and closed the door. He’d hardly disrobed and hopped into the standing shower, when the door opened again, and Selina walked in, bold and brass.

Gasping in fright, Arthur roared mightily, “What the—get out! I’m in here!”

He felt his heart leaping into his throat when the shadow of her hand deviously crawled on the other side of the light green shower curtain…dangling, inching closer, and closer…and then she chuckled and dropped her hand away from the shower curtain.

“As ravishing as you may think you are, Fleck, I’m not interested.”

That single comment hurt worse than a kick to the gut, or a slap across his face. Visibly deflating, his chest caved in, his eyes turned moist, they stung, and he swallowed an uncomfortably large lump in his throat. The same lump that one would sense when they were on the brink of tears…the same lump he knew he’d felt years ago when…

“Fleck? You listening to me, or what?”

Brought back to ‘reality’ by her clipped tone, Arthur straightened himself while squeezing shampoo onto his hands. Lathering it up well, he growled, “I’m listening; what do you want?” He didn’t care how barbed and rude that sounded; he was beyond angry with her already, and he was going to show her.

Her shadow paced about the bathroom while she went on explaining that she felt they would be able to ambush Oswald Cobblepot once they specifically targeted any other places he frequented or owned. Arthur attentively and carefully paid enough attention to her words while rinsing and soaping his body off, but only had to interrupt when she’d plainly stated that they had to attack Oswald, personally.

No.

“No,” he protested as he shut off the water and shook water from his hair like a dog. “He’s got a lot of bad guys working for him, Selina, and it’s easy to get yourself killed by going after him.” When he made to head out of the shower, he suddenly was reminded by the fact that he didn’t have a towel.

“Err, Selina?”

“Got you covered.”

Right away, a deep blue clean towel was pushed through the side of the curtain, offered and delivered to him plainly.

Swallowing nervously, Arthur eventually took the towel and wrapped it around his own waist. Lifting his legs, he stepped out of the tub and standing shower, trying to avoid Selina’s odd smirks. She seemed to be enjoying herself and accourting him thanks to his misery and discomfort. It was rude of her to do, but Arthur wasn’t in the mood to engage her in useless banter that wouldn’t go anywhere.

As despicable as it felt to stand by her half naked, practically, her diabolical ‘plan’ spoken out to him earlier was more important.

Staying on that target, he firmly orated, “Selina, I’ve spent a lot of time around Oswald, and he protects his things very well.” Blinking sheepishly, he frowned as though in pain, flicked water from his hair, and then intoned, “If I know him well enough, I think there’s a special place he will be relocating the mask you want, as well as a lot of other stuff that made him rich to begin with.”

Turning with his back facing her, Arthur dried himself off, and wanted to request for some much-needed privacy, when he felt a small hand bearing down on the center of his back. Involuntarily, his spine arched up against its delicious heat, and he nearly stumbled. Though he wanted to keep his distance, propinquity with an attractive, sensual female wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

A hot puff of air hit his ear suddenly, nearly making him cry out in desperation and want.

Smiling like a Cheshire Cat, Selina purred, “Where? Tell me where this special place is, Fleck.”

How the hell was he going to refuse her?? Was it even possible to refuse such a sexy, beautiful, luscious woman with all her curves in the right places, and all her tenderness so willingly given?

She’d once awarded him with her true nature, and Arthur was slowly flying and spiraling to a state of utter engouement with Selina Kyle, and he didn’t know how to stop himself. Perhaps even if he knew, he wouldn’t want to stop…

Confidently, he gathered his nerves and even though he hadn’t spun around to face her, he bravely stated, “Gotham Museum of Natural History; whatever you want from him will be there.”


	24. Affairs of Adversaries

Arthur found out in a quick hurry that Selina had a propensity to pack a lot of unsavory ‘disguises’. She claimed that Holly liked to sometimes play ‘dress up’, which was why she had a bag full of clothes with herself that altogether worked well enough for an ‘old woman’ disguise’.

Throwing it all in the trunk of the car, she then collected anything in the name of ‘ammunition’ for them to arm themselves with. Selina took an electric taser, rope, her whip, a few sharp switchblades, temporary blinding gas, chloroform, as well as an item she’d labeled and donned as a ‘cat claw’. It resembled a small gun, and when she shot it to show off to Arthur what it could do, three hook-like claws flew out of it, grappling neatly onto the windowsill outside.

Pointing at it, Selina relished in showing off as she allowed it to yank her body up through the air until she held onto the edge of the windowsill.

Charming.

Arthur knew she was more than clever, but he still didn’t feel too great and confident about their plan. It made sense to him ever since he’d been captured and taken into Arkham State Hospital, and whether or not Selina wanted to address it, the niggling, burdensome fact was enough to send Arthur into a carnaptious mood. But rather than ignore it and sweep it under the rug in the hopes that it would just magically go away, he felt that addressing it head-on was the smartest thing to do.

While Selina toyed with her gadgets and stuffed them neatly in the trunk of the car, Arthur lingered by the passenger side of the vehicle. Having a cigarette while he waited for her beneath the canopy and shade of the bushy trees as well as a still dark sky due to how early in the morning it was, he only felt mild bouts of relaxation and calm in his veins before Selina chuckled fiendishly.

Holding out a hanger supporting her cat suit, she sang out cheerfully, “Taaadaaa! Looks like I’m all set to go!” Tossing a flirtatious wink in Arthur’s direction, she slammed the trunk of the car down, locked it, and then made her way over toward the driver’s seat. However, before she could open the door and sit herself down, she caught the dreary, fearful stance Arthur had taken while leaning against the passenger door.

Giving pause to what she’d witnessed, Arthur felt his mood turning sour and clouded by the minute. His thoughts darkened, and before he knew it, he was giving in to lashing out at Selina’s complacency. In his opinion, it wasn’t well placed, nor was it apropos for the current predicament they were ‘trapped’ in.

His heated scowl dissuaded her from fully enjoying her already copacetic, pleasant airs and graces. Though she attempted to smile at him and ignore his animosity etched onto his face, in no time at all, after a few moments of playfully and auspiciously waving at him, winking, grinning, and purposefully rubbing herself around his back much like a feline, Selina was truly disparaged. Whatever she was trying was failing, miserably, and she only gave in to the growing and mounting tension delivered in a silent, clairvoyant message.

Giving him a light shove, she snapped, “What? What’s gotten to you, now?!”

Eyebrows furrowing as though he was either deeply frustrated or pained, Arthur’s face twisted into one of deep anger and putrid sickness. His skin turned slightly paler than normal, and he admonished seriously, “Selina, are you forgetting how much trouble we’re in?”

The way he’d thrown that out like a punch to the face momentarily stunned the young woman. Stymied for all of three seconds, Selina blinked away her frozen state before snobbishly replying, “Trouble? Well, define ‘trouble’, Fleck. See, last I checked, Cobblepot’s not making ‘house calls’. If we avoid him, we should be fine!”

Twirling around abruptly after throwing this out so boldly, she tried making her way back toward the driver side of the vehicle, when Arthur leapt in her way.

Standing before her and blocking her path, his eyes glowered at her until she had the decency to look up at him.

“Fleck,” began her growl in the way of an argument brewing, “get out of my way.”

Perhaps he was being disrespectful and impertinent in her eyes, but Arthur didn’t care. Selina’s failure to acknowledge a simple fact and truth was much more of a concern to himself, as well as a sign of her lack of maturity and impudence.

Unsure of how much more in the way of her insolence he could tolerate, Arthur took on as bold of an approach as she had. Flippantly, he stared her down while aggressively snapping, “Are you somehow going to carry on forgetting that we _escaped_ from Arkham State Hospital?”

She rolled her eyes, but he sharply and shrewdly pointed out, “Selina, that’s not good. That means no matter what happens, no matter what we do, no matter where we go, we are being _hunted_ ; we are fugitives, Selina.”

Her eyes never left his, and she responded curtly, “No, I haven’t forgotten that, Fleck. I know we have absconded, but thanks for that reminder, anyway.”

Tossing it off like it was no big deal at all for her only drove Arthur up the walls. How she could stay so calm, so ignorant, and so blissfully dull in the middle of what was considered an evolving and tumultuous situation was rather odd to the older man. Mostly, he considered it foolish, and he was quick to deem her unreliable if she willing resorted to maladroitness.

However, he had patience. Though it was on a limited supply, he took his time to calm himself down and compose himself properly. He’d argued and bickered with her plenty, and she was witty when it came to her words.

Not wanting to open himself up to being on the receiving end of her ‘smart mouth’, he pontificated vehemently, “Our chances are slipping, and it’s because everyone in Gotham knows my face as ‘Joker’, and now, Oswald Cobblepot knows your face as Catwoman.”

The facts were facts; their opportunities and chances were disappearing and dwindling like old, dried-out leaves scattering about in the autumn wind. A devious chill was about in the air, and not even the morning sun warmed up Arthur’s muscles and bones. Trembling there before her, he cringed while he imagined their detrimental plight and suffering once Oswald caught them.

“This is crazy, Selina, we can’t—”

“Hush,” she cooed softly, index finger flicking out and resting on the seam of his lips. “Have some patience, Fleck; if I say we got this, then you need to trust me.” In delight and rapture, she leaned into him and whispered seductively, “Just listen to everything I say, and you’ll be fine.”

Not at all agreeing, Arthur tried moving back, but she was quick to react. In a split second, by the time he had inhaled sharply in shock, Selina’s hands cupped his cheeks, and she pulled their bodies flush together. Saccharine heat gushed against heat, and her lips captured Arthur’s fully. Though chaste and lacking tongue as per required for deeper intimacy, she still breathlessly kissed him for a full minute.

He was beyond surprised, but much like the last time it’d happened, it ended much too soon. Wrenching her mouth away from his, Selina broke the soft kiss, and she pushed the macilent man’s form as far from her own as swiftly as possible.

Throwing him a look of minor disapproval, Selina’s feet moved back along the madid pavement, and she nodded at Arthur in a silent command. No other words could’ve been spoken, it seemed, and Arthur gripped the passenger door.

“No, Fleck!”

Glancing up in mild irritation, he’d wanted to dish out something in the way of showy attitude, when the clinking and clanking of keys jingling sounded in the air. Waving at him semi-fondly, almost, an agreeable Selina Kyle toyed with the car key, as well as another string of keys dangling from a keychain. They shined and beamed mildly in the light, but the sound of them hitting and knocking against each other was the catalyst for driving Arthur a tad insane.

Moodily, he snapped, “What do you want?”

Pointing at him, she crooned sweetly, “You. Driving.”

Turning slightly gaunt, Arthur sputtered, and then, thinking that she was just kidding and messing him around as usual, he dipped his head back and laughed. “You’re-y-you’re funny, Selina!” Waving her off, he muttered, “I c-can’t believe that…you’re kidding with me!”

Sternly and seriously, she shook her head once slowly. “I wasn’t kidding, Fleck,” came her serious, definite tone, signifying that there wasn’t any room for an argument. “You must drive,” she cantillated while holding the door open for him in a clear invitation.

Smile and shifty laughter decrescent upon the words ‘sinking in’ and registering, Arthur’s hands hung limply and loosely at his sides. Emitting an odd, tiny squeak, he composed himself quickly as he croaked, “I…I can’t do that!! I don’t drive, Selina!”

Nostrils flaring, she argued back, “I think you’re a good driver already; you _drive_ a lot of people insane.”

Skipping over her sarcasm and barbed words, Arthur protested his blandish honesty, no matter how badly it may have seemed. He knew there was a chance she would look down on him even more if he admitted that he couldn’t drive, never had obtained his driver’s license, and was scared of driving more than anything else.

Still, he couldn’t lie to someone he valued, cherished, respected, admired, and was in love with. He needed to be frank…there was no need to resort to conformative means and methods here, no matter what she would later say.

Nose wrinkling in minor disgust with himself more than with her, he admitted openly with a sigh, “I never learned how to drive, Selina.” Shaking his head in dismay and disappointment, he supplied gently, “I am scared to. I always was. My mother never asked me to do it, so I never learned, and I don’t have a driver’s license.”

As he hung back in fear and anticipation over what she would say, Selina rolled her eyes and snorted crudely. “Oh, it’s not that big of a deal, Fleck,” she disputed curtly, studying her fingernails, as though weary of this topic already. “Tell you the truth, since I landed in all heaps of trouble, my license got expired; never stopped me.”

Holding out his hands, Arthur raised them, and then dropped them down in ‘chopping’ motions, as though to pound his point out clearly for her to get once and for all. With a deep frown, he seriously admonished, “No! You d-don’t understand, Selina!”

Due to his raw, vitriolic outburst, Selina sealed her lips shut. Her eyes went wide, and her eyebrows rose, but she had nothing to offer.

Knowing he had her attention, Arthur nodded before glancing down at his feet and nervously fidgeting by wringing his hands.

“I…w-we…” Reminding himself to calm down and try not to look like as big a fool before her as he assumed he already appeared to be, he finished his thought. “I just don’t want to drive. I never have my entire life. Never needed to.”

While he hoped she would get it and leave it be, he shifted, eyes darting around and tracing random patterns and outlines of the dewy grass, a few orange-yellow leaves falling from tree branches, and the odd bits of gravel here and there.

Selina eyed him in mild contempt, but she only asked softly, “How do you get around to places you want to go, then?”

Staring at her as though scolding her for asking such an odd question, Arthur chided waspishly, “I always took the bus or the city cabs.”

Of course.

Blushing, she coughed and brushed her hair back to hide from her embarrassment. “Oh…okay, but still, you gotta face your fears some time or another, Fleck, and I want to help you with it.”

His jaw fell and nearly hit his knees. “Selina! You—”

“You. Need. To. Face. This. Fleck,” she said one word at a time as though conversing and communicating with a toddler or an otherwise slow and incompetent person. Pointing at him, and then at the parked vehicle, she enunciated, “It’s not that big of a deal, and I promise I’ll teach you and be with you here, don’t worry.”

Her tone sounded sincere and promising enough, some much that already, Arthur began feeling a sway of capitulation. She winked at him a tad salaciously and playfully, purring out the word ‘please’. Arthur reacted to it by trembling…in pleasure.

Her voice suddenly sounded both chilling and intimidating, and yet so tantalizing. She lowered her voice at least half an octave, purring out ‘I’m here.’ The way she played with and rolled the letter ‘r’ did something odd to Arthur’s body. Desire and lust ardently reverberated through and shook him, but he managed to hide it well from her.

She still couldn’t know how he felt about her, and he was going to keep his secret, for now.

Clearing his throat, he coughed out, “You’ll t-teach me?”

How?

Though he’d never asked it, Selina answered him willingly.

Beckoning him forward with a finger, she stepped aside when he wove past her and peered inside the vehicle at the shiny steering wheel. Pressing a hand in the center of his back, she hotly lapped at his ear with her venerous tongue in a quick second before pushing him forward.

“Think of it like an arcade game!!”

He sat down on the driver’s seat, and Selina slunk in the back, and then wedged herself forward into the passenger seat while hanging onto a small plastic bag Arthur wasn’t paying any credence to. He was already quite anxious, and he shook as he glanced at the ignition, the gear shifts, and the break and gas pedals. Understanding the basics of it only due to reading about cars and watching a few TV shows, Arthur didn’t really need Selina’s explanations, but he only listened to them and absorbed them readily due to how lovely and serene her voice sounded.

Gesturing at his feet, she declared smartly, “A lot of people get the brake and gas pedals confused sometimes, but you should remember always that the gas is on the right, and the brake is on the left. Got it?”

He nodded, and she poked his right leg with her elbow. “Practice now while the car is off; put your right foot on the gas, and then the brake, and go back and forth, see what it feels like for a moment.”

Obediently, he did so, at first moving his entire leg, but when he knocked his knee into the side of the driver door of the car clumsily, Selina laughed dryly.

“Just your foot is fine, Fleck; not your whole damn body.”

They tested more of it out together, with Selina barking out a little ‘exam’ of sorts. She would go back and forth at random, asking him sometimes to brake, and then add gas. He nailed most of them perfectly after messing up in the beginning and confusing the two pedals, but Arthur caught on just fine.

Clapping, Selina cheered him on proudly. “See? It’s not that tough!” Shifting, her eyes gleamed brightly, perhaps with more pride and urgency, or perhaps with the thrill to get on the road. Arthur couldn’t say, really, but he found it didn’t matter a lot, not when she was this close to him and smiling so ecstatically.

Things got a little more complicated when Selina taught Arthur about ‘blind spots’, next. Adjusting the rear-view mirror, she tapped on it while chewing on minty flavored and scented gum. “Check this all the time, Fleck,” she warned and instructed with caution, “you will be able to see things a lot better, and—”

“Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear?” Finishing this sentence off with a ghost of a smirk, he sat back into the seat and grinned wider and wider while she glared ferociously at him. Unfortunately, Arthur found her even more adorable as she attempted to be intimidating and overbearing.

Scoffing, Selina touched the gears. “Hardy-har, Fleck,” moistening her lips with her pink tongue flashing out for a moment, she explained, “you may wanna pay close attention here, because I have a feeling you’ll get a bit excited for this.”

She showed him how to shift the gears into ‘parking’ mode, ‘reverse’, and then ‘drive’. Arthur practiced them with her, making sure to check his mirrors, not mix up the gas and brake pedals, and not use his entire body to ‘turn’ the car and check his blind spots. Selina congratulated him and deemed him a ‘fast learner’. Promising her ‘good student’ a surprise, then, she turned on the engine, buckled Arthur up into his seat belt, and rolled up the windows.

Eyes wide in terror, Arthur squeaked, his voice cracking. “We’re-w-we’re doing th-this, now?!?”

“No time like the present, huh Fleck?” Tossing him a wink, Selina shook her bag before his face while she shifted the vehicle into ‘reverse’.

The car moved back once Arthur released his foot on the brake pedal, and he turned to check if the street was clear. Thankfully, at this hour of the morning, not many cars were about. He backed up perfectly, but then tried putting his foot down on the gas pedal.

Leaping ahead, Selina hissed in his ear, “Drive, dummy; put it in drive.”

“R-right!” Doing just that as she’d done earlier, Arthur drove on down the street. It was awkward, to say the least. How much pressure was he supposed to place over the gas pedal? How fast did he have to go?

The car lurched forward too much, the engine growling in sphygmodic bursts as though warning ahead of time what was to come. Arthur went along with it, thinking that this was all correct. Torn between wanting to hurry to impress Selina, and to also ensure they wouldn’t be seen, he pushed down with all his might on the gas pedal. The car tore forth, only to stop abruptly when Arthur slammed his foot down on the brake upon realizing his mistake. The vehicle jerked and hiccupped, shaking the passengers in its motions.

Turning to glance at Selina as though to sample whether he was doing a decent enough job, he winced when he saw her less than enigmatic and not at all obscure scowl of sheer disapproval.

Unfortunately, he’d been paying far too much attention to her delphically charged glances, so much that he stopped paying attention to the road ahead.

Steering wheel moving between his tightly clenched hands, Arthur tried fighting his way through an apology, when Selina rasped, “Fire hydrant up ahead.”

It was already too late.

The front of the car bashed right into the yellow and red fire hydrant near the curb, and it happened with such force, that it successfully scared the pants off Arthur. Instinctively, he slammed both feet down on the brake, sending the car hurtling forward. Selina nearly collided with the dashboard, but she held out her arms before herself while groaning in irritation more than pain.

Waving his arms frantically as though it would solve everything, Arthur cried out regretfully, “I’m so, so sorry, Selina! I didn’t m-mean to do that!”

Scolding him and lecturing him wouldn’t get her anywhere, and she knew that well enough. Thankfully, not too much damage had been done to the car, and as a beginner, he didn’t deserve to be lectured so sternly and harshly.

Flipping her hair back, Selina shrugged half-heartedly. “It’s fine, Fleck; shit happens, and the good news is that you didn’t really break anything!”

Her optimism rapidly backfired. Fate had a more twisted, sick sense of humor, so it seemed, and darn good timing. The moment her positive feedback had shot out of her mouth, the engine of the car gave out another ‘bang’. The small fire hydrant exploded a second later, with bursts and streams of cold water spewing forth like a river dam coming apart.

The spray of the waterfall cascading over the windshield of the car served as mortification enough for Arthur. Very carefully, however, he turned on the windshield wipers without even really having to search for them.

Selina noticed this and sighed wearily, “At least you got that part of it right, Fleck.”

(***’’***”)

Women were amusing, and full of surprises, Arthur had always thought, but especially Selina Kyle. When he proved to her he was able to drive on relatively well, obeying the speed limit, blending into traffic perfectly well, and obeying the traffic signals and lights, Selina felt ‘confident’ enough to do what she needed to. In a few moments, she traveled to the back seats of the car, and as Arthur drove on, she withdrew a few ‘goodies’ from her plastic bag. It turned out that it was a disguise of an older woman’s outfit and hair.

Peeking at her on and off in his rear-view mirror, Arthur had to admit to himself that she was rather deplorable, but also crafty. She was hurriedly changing in the back seat, but she warned him not to stare at her and pay attention to his driving. Silently, he gazed ahead at the bright streets, picking up the pace mildly when a car drove by in the lane next to his and the driver flipped him off aggressively.

Selina huffed and flipped him off in return. “Ignore them, Fleck,” she encouraged him while slipping off her dark tank top and tossing it in the bag. “Keep going; you got this.”

Not really convinced either way, Arthur squinted at the sea of cars and trucks up ahead on the stretch of road as he gasped out in fright, “Are you s-sure, Selina? I f-feel kinda funny!”

“Remember what I said, remember what I taught you, and you’ll be fine, Fleck.”

Selina put the grey wig on perfectly, next, she slowly slipped into an old, brown jacket that was more suitable for early winter weather as opposed to autumn. Cleverly, she was in the midst of donning the disguise of an old woman. The grey wig sat perfectly on her scalp, concealing every single strand of her light blonde hair after she’d pushed it back in a tight bun atop her skull. Next, she adjusted a skirt onto her lower torso, resting up on her knees as she shrugged and shimmied out of her tight black pants.

And like every man on the planet, Arthur ogled her. Of course, he just had to. Far too starved and lustful, he took more than an eyeful of her creamy thighs, her slender hips, her flat stomach, and his eyes wandered back down lower, and lower, and lower…

Suddenly, she glanced up, and then pointed out the window past him with fear evident in her eyes.

“FLECK!! WATCH OUT!!”

Turning around at the very last minute, his eyeballs suddenly bulged, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel with a ferocious hold.

“HOLY SHIT!”

He’d nearly driven them right into an enormous moving van in the opposite lane. The driver waved at them, lips flapping as he screamed all sorts of profanities. He honked his deep horn, and it blared off like the sirens and alarms heard on a battlefield. It all made Arthur panic, and as he turned the wheel to the right sharply, he nearly collided again with a neighboring minivan. The driver of that vehicle rolled down their window, and they screamed at him to watch out and get fucked. Inappropriately, in a fit of stress, Arthur’s eyes squinted, and he dipped his head back as he laughed in a profluent way.

Shaking his head, he waved at the driver on the right. “AHAHAHAHAHA!! HE-HELP!! AHAHAHA!!”

They flipped him off, rolled up their window, and they drove ahead faster to get out of his way. Due to his uncontrollable laughter and pain, Arthur let go of the wheel with his left hand, utilizing that same hand to gently beat against his throat, and then his chest. Desperate to cut off the laughter and choking sensation he was experiencing, his elbow knocked into the windshield wipers, and they squelched against the already spotless and waterless glass.

“AHAHAHAHAHA! OOOHOO! I C-CA-AN’T! AHAHAHA!!”

“FLECK! GOD DAMN IT!”

Unable to stop himself, Arthur groaned for a moment before he resumed his laughing. Glancing back at Selina, his eyes pleaded and begged for her help. She gave in, no doubt for the sake of their lives. Vowing to remain malacophonous, she spoke words of reassurance to him, informing that he’d done a good enough job, and that she wasn’t at all angry with him.

Gripping the wheel when both her arms snuck out on either side of his body past the seat, she made sure the car’s tires were aligned in a straight enough way. She blended back in with the rest of the traffic, whispering at Arthur to add a little more pressure to the gas pedal.

“We’re on the freeway now, Fleck,” she factually brought up. “It’s okay to go a bit faster, because that’s how most people drive here, anyway.”

He nodded, clutching his neck with his left hand while holding onto the steering wheel with the right one. Laughter subsiding and weakening, he breathed deeply through his nose, nostrils flaring while he brushed sweat off his nose and forehead with the back of a hand, quickly.

Checking his mirrors, he made sure that things were clear, and he coughed, cleared his throat, and then timidly offered, “I’m s-sorry…I didn’t—”

“Not like you could control it,” she stated, understanding his position as much as she could. Though not nearly caritative and generous enough, she sat back down and continued dressing up.

She was grateful he wasn’t peeking, and she managed to look like an older woman by the time Arthur’s breathing had stabilized, and his focus was entirely on the highway. Selina instructed him well ahead of time what lane to shift into, and what exit to take. Altogether, the ride didn’t stretch on for a lengthy amount of time, much to both Arthur’s and Selina’s relief.

By the time they were back on the main streets of the fancier parts in Gotham, Arthur glanced out the window cautiously, nervously driving on a lot slower.

Selina gently tapped his shoulder. “I know you’re nervous, but the windows are tinted; no one will see us.”

That marginally comforted him, but he still hadn’t said a word to her. She didn’t understand why it bothered her, but she knew it did. Selina knew she only longed to hear him speaking in his unique voice, but he couldn’t when he was nervous and scared. Now, she only yearned to disburden him of his internal woes, but she truly couldn’t begin to fathom why.

Weren’t they sworn enemies, practically? Weren’t they set on using each other and then disbanding when this was all through? Why did she need to deracinate this malicious line of thinking? Why did it burn her to think of being cold to him, uncaring, and leaving him to his own whims? Was she hoping she could depurate and purge herself of some wrongdoings and misdeeds?

….

Maybe…maybe there was a glimmer of a chance that it was true…but why?

Why?

Pushing aside her odd thoughts, Selina quipped, “Wanna drive again on the way back when we’re done with the Museum?”

Arthur paled, and he weakly and brokenly replied, “Please…I th-think I had e-enough for one day…”

Clapping him on the back, she giggled and sang out cheerfully, “I’m kidding with you, Fleck!” Adjusting her wig to sit on her head carefully, she added, “Spare the world _you_ on the roads.”

Arthur genuinely couldn’t disagree with her, nor was he even offended in the least.

He cracked a small smile she unfortunately missed, far too busy with studying and taking in all the lovely views and scenery of the richest part in Gotham City. It was his own furtive smile, and it was all he had for the moment.


	25. Not Totally Useless

Gotham’s Museum of Natural History was thankfully quite busy for the day. By the time Selina and Arthur parked the car across the street from the magnificent building, many rich socialites as well as politicians were already wandering inside. A few ‘working class’ civilians milled about, but they weren’t exactly permitted inside…

Selina whistled while she observed each and every single person, her mind already making notes and forming her plans of getting inside. The longer she remained silent, however, the more frustrated Arthur became.

Shifting and squirming in his seat, he whispered impatiently, “What’re we going to do? We can’t get in looking the way we do!”

Reaching into a handbag she’d purposefully stolen from an elderly woman who lived a floor down from her apartment, Selina yanked out an ID card. Humming in thought, she answered Arthur with a bit of a sinister chuckle, “Maybe _we_ won’t be able to get in, you’re right, Fleck, but…” Flashing the card up in front of Arthur, she announced pleasantly, “I think our girl ‘Donna Millsbury’ _can_ do the job, though.”

Squinting at the card, Arthur then touched it as though it were a piece of sharp glass. Gasping out in shock, he croaked, “Selina! You s-stole this?!”

Yanking the card out of his hands, she turned it up before herself, staring at it. Then, with ever a blank and bored expression, she sarcastically snapped at him, “Well, she certainly didn’t give it to me for my birthday, Fleck.”

Now, it was his turn to roll his eyes at her, but when Arthur did it, surprisingly, Selina couldn’t find herself growing irritable. She normally hated it when someone rolled their damn eyes at her. She could handle someone swearing at her, cursing her lineage, and even flipping her off with pride, but she couldn’t ever tolerate someone rolling their bloody eyes at her. The single strident, noncommittal passive-aggressive gesture often caused desudation within herself. It was beyond irritating and grating, to say the least.

But when Arthur did it…she found herself giggling like a little schoolgirl.

How bizarre.

Clearing her throat, Selina sighed seriously, “Right! Enough of monkey business, Fleck!” Holding her purse and pushing it up on her right shoulder, she announced boldly, “Donna is a high-class chick, even for someone approaching her sixties! She wants to check out statues and art of phallic natures, and she will!”

Nodding, Arthur grunted deeply, “And what about me? Hmm? Am I supposed to wait here like your own personal cab driver until you return?” Waving her off, he muttered, “I can’t risk getting caught.”

“My plan doesn’t suck,” she argued while holding up a grey cane. Wielding it as though it were a deadly weapon, she pointed out the window at a greeter. “See that buffoon in a suit?”

Arthur nodded again. “Yep.”

Tapping on the glass, Selina ravenously crowed, “That’s your way in.”

She decided to ‘lead’ the way, stepping out of the car while she hissed at Arthur to keep up. The timing was perfect. A few limousines drove on in front of the car, to the side, and parked up in a single file line on the side of the street directly beside the museum. It was a good enough cover, and Selina tugged Arthur along with herself quickly. They made it to the back of the building, hiding behind trash bins and a recycling bin effectively.

“Right,” Selina barked out, though mindful of the volume of her voice, “any minute now, that douche bag is gonna come out for a smoke break, and we will knock his lights out so you can take his uniform.”

As silly as she looked in Arthur’s eyes, full of light and energy while wearing the disguise of an older woman, he couldn’t laugh. This was no laughing matter, and there wasn’t much time. Selina had been right; one of the short ushers and greeters slid himself out between the double doors, already fumbling around for his cigarette and matches.

“Okay,” Selina whispered before Arthur, “I’ll take care of him, and I think he’s about your size, so we should be good!”

He hardly had time to nod before she got up and pretended to stumble weakly about. Her cane clattered loudly, and she pushed her thick glasses up on her face. Holding her head down, she hid her youthful face well enough. The cover of her hat and coat concealed her almost professionally, as though she were a highly trained actress. Stunned, Arthur could only watch in silence while she grabbed the greeter’s attention.

Donning the perfect ‘helpless old lady’ voice, Selina quivered as she sighed as though distressed. “E-excuse me, sir?”

He glanced up, holding his cigarette between his lips. His bushy eyebrows furrowed, and he glared at her as though she were quite the nuisance.

Standing tall, he growled in a warning, “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but you came to the wrong place; you can’t be here.”

“Oooh?” Chuckling, she croaked, “I’m sorry! I thought this was the entrance!”

Still searching for his matches, the man bemoaned, “It’s not. You should look closely next time, you old hag.”

As he’d been lost while on the hunt for his matches, as well as carelessly insulting Selina, he hadn’t noticed how quickly she was crossing and closing the gap between their bodies.

Pausing an inch away from the usher, Selina finally had him right where she wanted him the most. Delightfully, she crooned, “Old hag? Could an old hag do _this_?” Immediately, she used the brief time window she had to raise her cane and bash him over the top of his head twice. Eyes rolling back, he crumbled almost bonelessly to the floor.

“You, my friend, need to have some more respect for women!” she lectured his knocked-out form as she wagged a finger at him. Tossing her cane aside for a moment, Selina wrapped her arms about his waist, and she yanked him back. In a dash, Arthur joined her, assisting in slowly removing the man’s black and white uniform.

Selina placed his black cap on top of Arthur’s head, smirking at him behind her thick glasses. “Good stuff, Fleck,” she encouraged joyfully, “get his clothes on, and then we can go.”

Sputtering, Arthur gaped openly at the unconscious man, at Selina, at the back doors of the building, and then at the man again. Squealing, he asked, “J-just like th-that? What do we do w-with him?”

Chin jutting out sharply at the garbage bin, Selina responded bluntly, “Put him in there with the rest of the trash, duh!”

“Selina! We c-can’t keep doing these bad things to people! What the hell?!”

While Arthur took off his own coat and began waiting for Selina to finish with unbuttoning the usher’s overcoat, the young woman sneered at him.

“This is twisted, Fleck,” she mumbled out in a hurtful manner, teeth revealed as she snarled silently. “You have _zero_ issues with shooting a guy in the fucking head _live_ on TV, yet _this_ is a problem.”

Pointing at her, he hissed sharply, “So is your stealing!”

“Right, right,” she chided in heavy amounts of sarcasm while throwing the overcoat at him. “A thousand pardons.”

Putting the expensive, freshly ironed overcoat on overtop of the unconscious man’s white dress shirt, Arthur admonished her like a parent scolding their child. “You need to stop this, Selina; this isn’t right.” Straightening his shirt and the overcoat, he missed a few of the buttons, no doubt trying to make this quick, but also fearful.

Patience tested beyond her limits, Selina snapped, “Oh, let me do it!” Not even waiting to hear what he would say, she fixed his cufflinks, first, and then buttoned them properly. “These people aren’t that great, Fleck,” she advised cautiously, frowning while moving on to his overcoat.

“I can’t say these couldn’t have happened to nicer people, quite honestly, and they don’t deserve your pity, so stop.” Yanking his dress shirt down, she wove her fingers about the buttonholes, stretching them out expansively while he watched her.

Arthur stared at her eyelashes, admiring how thick and long they were. A few times, her fingernails gently touched the fabric of his thin dress shirt, grazing his heated skin.

Clearing his throat while he tried not focusing much on her touches, he asked her gently, “Your neighbor…she…was she nice?”

Selina shook her head abruptly. “Not even close. She has like, six grandkids or something, and she doesn’t pay attention to them at all.”

Many times, she could see and feel him inhaling and exhaling, and the motions caused her fingers to touch and prod his skin. Each time that happened, heat pooled into Selina’s cheeks, flushed down to her throat, and then swarmed in her belly. This was weird. Was she getting sick?

Trying to ignore the strange reaction she was experiencing as she finished up with the last of the buttons, she added moodily, “She never did anything for them from what I saw. Nothing for Christmas, New Year’s; nothing. Not a damn thing! Not even a card, not a letter, hell, I don’t believe she even managed to call them and say ‘hi’.”

Next, she helped straighten out and shift his red bowtie, making it sit neatly on his bony sternum. She sighed wistfully, “I never stole money from her, even though I know she’s got more than enough money to live out her retirement without ever having to worry about paying off the bills.”

Arthur scowled at her, already judging and reaching his own conclusions, but it bounced off Selina quite uncharacteristically.

With a resolute nod, she finished, “I only took her ID card. I found the purse and wallet someplace else.”

Shyly, Arthur raised a hand, and let his palm touch the back of her tiny hand still resting on his bowtie. “I get it,” he smiled gently, “I’m not mad now that you explained.”

As their hands enclosed about one another, Selina inhaled sharply. “You’re not mad?”

“Of course not.”

When she looked up and met his eyes, apparently, a certain ‘mood’ had been created. A bold and ‘forward’ aura lingered around Arthur. His eyes fell from Selina’s down to her pink lips, and the malapert man dove right in for a kiss.

Selina reacted quickly. Not at all playing and catering to mansuetude and meekness, Selina shoved Arthur as hard as she could in the collarbone right when his tongue gently slid along her pursed lower lip. Stumbling back, he rolled onto the pavement like a rag doll. She couldn’t help but giggle, even though she knew it was highly inappropriate to do such a thing at a time like this.

Struggling to get back up, Arthur tossed her a heated glare as though cursing her to hell and back with his eyes only. Brushing off his uniform, he growled pathetically, “That was rude.”

Licking her lips, a rather sultry look was in her eyes. Scaling those seductive glances up and down his figure, she admitted shamelessly, “Not gonna lie, Fleck; you look delectable in a uniform.”

Sneering, Arthur vitriolically spat, “Stop messing with my head, Selina! One minute you’re nice to me, and then the next minute you treat me like garbage!”

“Oooooh, too bad, so sad,” she jeered churlishly. “That’s what you get for trying to smooch an old lady, you pervert!”

Arthur immediately pulled a moue of disgust upon hearing such an accusation. “I’m _not_ a damn pervert! You’re just—”

Shoving him back again, Selina held her cane close while bossily pushing out, “Get moving, Fleck! You have to blend in, now!”

Staggering slightly, Arthur made his way up along the three tiny steps leading to the large back doors, when he paused to ask one thing on his mind that stuck out like a sore thumb and troubled himself greatly.

Face contorting into a bit of a pained, antagonized grimace, he inquired meekly, “How am I gonna blend in?” Mind racing with plenty of his own versions and ideas, he could only await her response while he went into a panicked and flustered state.

‘Limping’ ahead around the side of the building, in her ‘old woman’ voice, Selina chirped, “You’ll greet people and clean, like the rest of the crew, Fleck!”

Selina was long gone before Arthur could even yell at her.

(***’’***”)

Surprisingly, the interior of the museum was quite tacent for a while. Arthur wandered forward, ensuring that he kept his head down and behaved much like other ushers and greeters. Moving in tandem following a few of them about, he made certain he wasn’t sluggish, nor was he too quick with his pacing.

He’d done this once before two years prior in order to have a little chance at finding and speaking with Thomas Wayne. He’d been rather daring and bold, then, and since he’d snuck into the crowded theater on a whim, Arthur felt seriocomic now in the present time. A rush of adrenaline, as well as a minor thrill coursed through his veins. He remembered not a single person suspecting him and catching on as he stood among them and watched a few clips of the Charlie Chaplin film that had been premiering then.

Standing smack dab in the center of the activity, being practically included in the special congregation of such clean, pretty, and fancy people had been quite a refreshing experience. Back then, he’d experienced feelings of joy, rapture, freedom, and exhilaration. To contrast that currently, Arthur felt dread, anxiety, a shortness of breath, and genuine turmoil. Already anticipating for it all to flop and go wrong, he lowered his dark cap down over his forehead and eyes even more. 

The halls and floors were covered in bright, ruby red carpet. The spots of the clean floors not covered by the carpet were white marble. Arthur could almost see his own reflection in them each time he moved and shifted.

Pillars and columns stood tall and the ceiling had an enormous dome-like skylight. A large fountain stood in the center of the grand hall, and many people and visitors paced around it while chatting and observing all the ebullient, effervescent sights.

As Arthur had been transfixed and mesmerized by ancient pottery and models of Egyptian and Roman cities, another usher rammed purposefully into him, nearly knocking his cap clean off had he not caught it quickly.

The man shoved a mop and bucket into Arthur’s chest aggressively as he grunted rudely, “Do something productive; I’m going for a quick smoke break.”

Nodding silently, Arthur waited until the man walked away before wheezing and cursing under his breath, “I hate this crap.” Seconds later, he heard ‘white noise’, then a soft scratching sound right next to his left ear.

“I wouldn’t be complaining if I were you, Fleck.”

Expression no longer sangfroid, Arthur spun around, expecting to find Selina nearby. Discovering that he was actually alone, he frowned in total confusion and touched his ear.

“The hell?”

“Aren’t you a clever one,” she taunted sadistically, “I’m in your ear.”

Keenly, he found a small earpiece and microphone resting just behind his left ear perched comfortably beneath his uniform collar where no one would ever see it.

That sly vixen…

Clamping a hand over his cheeks, he remained in frozen shock, and then once he’d calmed down significantly, seeing as this wasn’t a hysterogenic situation such as himself hearing voices, he cupped a hand close to the corner of his mouth so no one would be able to hear him communicating back to her.

“H-how did you get a microphone on me?!”

He could practically see and hear her smile right away through the earpiece.

“Easy,” she almost moaned out, “remember my kisses?”

Stomping a foot down in a recalcitrant and petulant fit of losing his temper, he found that yes, he _had_ in fact felt her little, slender fingers gently coiling through the hair at his nape before wandering lower. Since she’d distracted him so well, and only because he found her lips beyond sensational, he hadn’t noticed much else.

Feeling cheated yet again by her, he viciously roared, “You took advantage of me!”

Due to belting it out loud for all to hear, more than ten guests paused in their elegant conversations and stared at him. Classical piano music emanated softly from the speakers placed and set up about in the hall of the museum. He knew he’d been much louder, and Arthur could only blush deeply as he grabbed the mop and bucket.

Excusing and pardoning himself, he awkwardly wove down the large and twisted hall, and then made a right turn. Walking directly through the open door led into a show room where thankfully not that many people were milling about, Arthur finally inhaled deeply.

Now, he could relax a bit…

Kicking the bucket down, he pretended to clean about while whispering gently, “Selina, where are you?”

She hummed in amusement lightly, “Right where I need to be.”

“You can see the mask?” Avoiding standing before the large, bright windows for too long, Arthur ‘mopped’ the floor and areas beneath the old Victorian statues and paintings. He was quite the nervous wreck on the inside while he imagined Selina close to Oswald Cobblepot. Was she going to be _that_ daring that she’d foolishly get herself caught?

Hoping that wouldn’t be the case, Arthur wheezed between clenched teeth sharply, “Don’t do anything stupid, Selina!”

A soft, highly amused chuckle was his initial reply, one that left Arthur seething, internally.

“Well, aren’t you short-sighted, Fleck,” she mocked and quipped. “I’m careful enough, but I’m going to need a distraction very soon, so if you could move some ass and get in the room next door, Donna Millsbury would truly be grateful.”

Grinding his teeth in severe irritation, Arthur wanted nothing more than to spew out a barbed, acidic retort, when suddenly, he heard two men in fresh tuxedos a few feet away whispering surreptitiously. Normally, he wouldn’t at all pay attention to them, but a single name spoken out sent off alarms in his brain.

“I heard Thomas Wayne’s last will and testament promised a truck load of dough for his first born.”

The first man who’d stated this laughed and stopped before a bright painting of a sunset. His friend leaned next to him, suspiciously glancing around, almost in a way that would suggest he was already anxious and anticipating for someone to be furtively listening in on the conversation.

Knowing just how much he was eavesdropping, Arthur quickly bent down, pretending to toy with his bucket for a moment.

Convinced that the ‘janitor’ was steadily working, the second man took to resuming the serious conversation. “Do you know how much he left behind?”

“ _Everything_ ,” his partner communicated back, not one to vacillate in his answer. “Wayne’s son is set for _life_ ; gets Wayne manor all to himself, and the damn butler, but I heard Thomas Wayne actually left a lot of secrets behind in his illustrious past over the years.”

Captivated and hooked beyond imagination, Arthur crept closer and closer to the men. If there was a tiny chance some of these secrets could provide answers to all his insistent, burning questions, he had to seize the opportunity!

Shifting his heavier weight back and forth on both feet, the first man who’d spoken up rasped secretively, “Wayne was a clever bastard even before his death! Left notes, receipts, and documents for his kid, and let me tell ya, pal, if they ever make it out before the public eye, it’ll be a field day for many people!”

He’d heard enough.

Abandoning the mop and bucket, Arthur madly dashed out of the show room, nearly tripping over his own feet twice in the process. His earpiece crackled, and Selina thinly hissed at him like a viper.

“The hell’re you doin’, Fleck?! I told you that we don’t have enough time for all this shit!”

Her scorn and harsh words didn’t matter at all. Leaning weakly against a pillar, Arthur panted wildly as though someone had chased him for miles. Placing a trembling hand on his chest to steady his own racing heart, he knew he was covered in sweat from head to toe. While his eyes wandered, he felt his own warm beads of perspiration trickling down his back like tiny ants climbing out of the ground.

Pushing his cap down when it’d moved up due to his quick run, he cried out in pure relief, “My father left a lot of papers and notes for me! I h-have to go to Wayne manor a-and get them!”

Clicking her tongue against her teeth tersely, Selina commented, “I heard all that, and he’s also left behind quite a good amount of money.” Her tone was now hungry and awfully greedy.

Upset upon hearing the dynamic shift, Arthur desperately yelled, “I don’t care about the money! I need answers!”

“And I _need_ you to fulfill your promise,” Selina jabbed quickly. “Get over here, Fleck! NOW!”

Quivering and trembling more so in heavy excitement he couldn’t conceal for long, Arthur gasped as though he’d nearly drowned. Choking on mouthfuls of air, he wept in elation, “My f-father cared! A-all this time, he d-did! He was just scared of everyone finding out like my mother said!”

Groaning irritably, an impatient Selina Kyle bemoaned, “That’s touching and all about your heritage, Fleck, but I want my damn mask!”

Scowling, he pushed himself away from the Greek pillar. Miffed by her lack of empathy and regard for his family history, he acerbically announced, “On my way.”

As she’d instructed him to do so, Arthur roamed around inside the next show room. Large whale and shark skeletons hung and dangled from hooks in the ceiling. The windows of this room were partly open, and more people admired and viewed clothing, artefacts, jewels, weapons, and old parchment on display from other countries and cultures.

A massive sea of rich Gotham denizens spilled in, and Arthur was pushed around carelessly. Diligently, he made his way to stand beneath a large, fancy chandelier, which wasn’t more than three feet away from a dangling Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton model. 

Espying the practically invisible string and wire system hooking and fastening it in place twirling down next to himself, Arthur counted silently and mentally down from ‘ten’.

Selina had already used her cat-claw well to snap and cut at the wires, and now, all he had to do was pull it, causing the skeleton to knock into the chandelier. The ‘accident’ would hopefully result in both items crashing, and in the wreckage, Selina would make off with the mask

He found her listening intently to a presentation on the mask across the room. As the levels of noise grew louder and louder, Arthur knew he had to act quickly. Reaching number ‘one’ inside his head, he unceremoniously tried making a grab for the wire, when suddenly, two large men and a woman slammed hastily into his thin frame.

“Watch it, dimwit!”

Clumsily, Arthur tripped over a handbag lying on the floor behind himself. Arms flailing about miserably, he was desperate to latch onto something for purchase, and seemed to be experiencing great difficulty with it. Arthur spun around, quickly clinging on to the first thing his fingers made contact with. Yanking the wire while simultaneously bashing his hips into an Aztec monument and recreation of a temple kept and preserved in a glass case, a less than vafrous Arthur heard and felt it all shattering on impact.

Above, the large skeleton of the dangerous T-Rex swayed as if somehow coming to life. It vagulated and wavered before it snapped and broke out of the hooks holding it in place. It sailed down quickly, but more than enough of the guests and visitors had already made a quick run for the exits while screaming in terror.

The bones of the ancient dinosaur turned to powder as they clashed with the sturdy, hard floor. They shattered amid the broken glass, scattering away into deadly pieces. Everything had turned topsy-turvy in less than a second, and Arthur felt quite meedless and unrewarded. He cringed, knowing that this wasn’t specifically how Selina wanted their little plan to go down.

Too many things were broken, but at least they’d caused a huge enough commotion. Hardly anyone was left behind in the wreckage; even the security team fled the room and was too busy with trying to ensure that the elderly and young children were safe and sound.

Once the dust and debris ceased dispersing in the room, Arthur stood with his arms tightly clamped against his side. Not even budging a muscle, he stared straight ahead, not even gasping in alarm once the Ancient Egyptian display case bearing the golden mask of Bastet had been bashed apart, with the piece gone.

Selina was rapidly approaching, holding her cane in one hand, and the mask in another. “Give me your jacket, Fleck!”

Not at all plussed or miffed due to the discommodious situation he’d in part created, the stammering, balbutient state Arthur was reduced to seemed quite a frozen and petrified statuesque version of himself.

Selina yanked his overcoat off the rest of his upper torso, quite strong and quick. Wrapping the authentic mask in the dark bundle of clothing, she gripped his shoulder and spun him towards a window.

Snapping out of his reverie, finally, Arthur potently screamed out in fear, “What’s happening?!”

Surveying the show room while alarm sirens blared off louder than the Fourth of July fireworks and parades, Selina tugged Arthur quickly toward the windows. They ran as though they were being chased, and soon enough, they were when armed guards shouted at them to stop, to drop whatever they were carrying, and to move away from the windows.

“Fat chance of that happening, you bastards!” Selina shrieked, yanking Arthur with herself fearlessly.

Seeing as they were inching closer and closer to the windows, Arthur finally bellowed out, “Where are we going?!”

“THROUGH THE WINDOW!”

Pure, meracious terror coursed through himself, chilling Arthur’s bones. There was a split-second right before his body sensed he would soon blast on through the windowpane, and he hung back in fear. But Selina wouldn’t allow that. Boldly, she turned and shifted her body to the right, making it so that the angle of the break would rely on the power of her shoulder. Glass exploded as she went flying through it first, and Arthur followed, ducking and hanging his head down once the cold autumn air slammed into his lungs.

As soon as they were out of the museum, Selina rolled onto the grass leading through the back-parking lot, and Arthur did the same, trying to desperately rid himself of any bits of glass sticking onto his clothes so dangerously. Selina made way for their car on the other side of the street, though she’d interestingly taken a new route behind a building looping and joining to the left side of the museum.

It did well and worked wonders as far as losing the security guards was concerned, which had obviously been the crafty young woman’s plans all along. Diving into the car, she ensured Arthur and the mask were in the back seat safely before she turned on the engine, rolled up the windows, and drove off with the tires screeching on the pavement.

Once they were far away from the museum, Selina took off the old woman’s wig and chucked it down to the floor of the car. Dipping her head back, she sighed a deep sigh of relief, and then broke out into a cacophony of celebratory laughter and howling.

“WOOOOOOOT!! We did it, Fleck!” Pumping her right fist up and down ecstatically, she screamed, “KISS MY ASS COBBLEPOT!” Honking her horn loudly, she drove on faster and faster, not at all paying attention to Arthur lying flat like a piece of paper on the seats, spreading himself out while he gazed at the mask.

Had it _really_ been worth all this trouble?

Oh, how Arthur wondered.


	26. Under a Sky of Lights

They didn’t return to Selina’s apartment, for safety and security reasons. Instead, Arthur learned that Selina was craftier and far beyond clever than he initially suspected. Although Arthur was fearful enough about being on the ‘run’, now, Selina didn’t seem to care. She bravely and fearlessly parked the car in the driveway of an already jam-packed house.

Plenty of other cars were in the expansive front yard, and Selina blended in perfectly with the rest of them. Wiping the car down clean as much as she could, she tossed away the disguise she’d donned into a large dumpster at the end of the street before making her way back to Arthur.

He stood next to the bumper of the car awkwardly, throwing her strange and perturbed glances, hanging onto the mask while she ran past him and beckoned him to follow her.

“Come on,” she urged quickly, “the sun’s about to go down, and if we hurry, we can get inside the attic, here.”

Scowling a deadly scowl at her, Arthur stomped about on the pavement and gravel, causing Selina to whirl around and hiss at him for making so much noise. Pointing at the large sign in the front yard of the old establishment, she pointed out that it read:

**Home for Wayward Youth**

As if that meant anything noteworthy.

Shrugging officiously, Arthur rasped, “And what’s that supposed to mean to me, then?” What did it matter? He was beyond irritable and disappointed with her for dragging him into a such mess, but also emphasizing that she cared about money.

What of the damn money? Is that where her heart was in all this?

He didn’t know, but he didn’t like flocking from house to house, living in the unknown shadows. Her lifestyle reminded him too much of—

“Fleck. Stay with me.”

Surveying the neighborhood, Arthur found he wasn’t too impressed. This was just another run-down, dilapidated, dark, dank house, much like any other one on the street. Tires, garbage bags torn open, dead tree branches cut and scattered about on the yard, as well as junk paper littered the front yard. The mailbox was nearly torn up out of the earth, and many holes had been dug either by wild animals, or damage from the owners of the house.

Either way, Arthur wasn’t too thrilled and over joyous about being here, but he had to wonder what significance this all held for Selina.

As if somehow possessing the ability to read his mind, Selina whispered mysteriously, “I grew up here after I left home; this is the best place I return to every now and then, even though a lot of older people are now in here for their retirement.”

He didn’t ask her anything else; he didn’t want to. They both had a sordid, dark past, and Arthur was too emotionally drained to go digging for details.

Selina climbed up all the way to the attic with heightened agility, sliding up the drainpipe before Arthur did the same. Holding onto it with his right hand, when he got close enough up to the balcony that lead into the attic, Selina leaned over the ledge and waved energetically at him.

“Hey! Toss me the mask!” she ordered out energetically, panting as he swung it up at her in the bundle and threw it over his shoulder.

Grumpily, he growled, “Have it. I don’t care.”

Though the rest of the climb for Arthur wasn’t any less than tumultuous, at least he had his dignity intact. He kept slipping as he shimmied along, causing his knees and shoes to slam into the drainpipe loudly. Selina hushed him in a warning tone, eyes glowering at him while she held out a hand.

“I’ll help you up the rest of the way-huh?!”

He refused it.

Gathering all his strength in his arms and hands, he bunched up his shoulders, and then pushed off as best as he could high into the air. He shot up the remaining three or so inches, he made a good enough dive for the balcony, and his fingers latched onto the bottom of it strongly. Gritting his teeth, with a deep groan, he heaved and pulled his own body weight the rest of the way up. Lifting one leg over the handrail, he let out a pained sigh as he stood next to Selina by the open door of what led into a bathroom.

Bowing sarcastically, Selina purred, “Ladies first.”

Not one to engage her in a verbal banter that would end up draining himself even more, Arthur crept inside. She hung closely behind him, whispering out the directions all the way up the attic. Much of the rooms on the fourth and fifth floor had been boarded up, and Selina explained it was only because of a supposed rumor floating around that the bedrooms were haunted by young orphans and the ghosts of lost children refusing to pass on.

Arthur didn’t know what to believe, so he didn’t say much. They both climbed up a narrow, tight staircase leading to the larger portion of the attic, which shockingly wasn’t locked or boarded up. Hardly any sounds came from the lower level of the home, but every once in a while, an old man’s laughter rang out from small spaces in the old floorboards, followed by sounds of either a TV or the radio.

A peaceful, lovely night.

Selina opened the door to the attic, which was oddly kept in a highly clean state. Nothing here had been touched, but things had quite obviously been dusted. The furniture in the room was not brand-new, but due to the fact that it’d been polished, cleansed, and dusted, it could’ve passed off for new in Arthur’s mind.

Two windows with thick curtains stood on opposites sides of the room. The walls were painted in a deep red color, though it soothed Arthur’s eyes more than it pained them. The walls held some pictures and plates as decoration, while an old, waterless tub sat beneath one window. Hauntingly, it held a few stuffed animal toys and board games. They looked like they hadn’t been touched for years. The boxes were nearly torn apart, the colors and font on them worn out and faded. The stuffed animals had either a button eye missing, or a nose rubbed and pulled off.

Arthur didn’t like it, so he turned instead and made his way for the only bed in the room, which stood next to a small fireplace. The red four poster bed smelled of fresh, clean sheets, and it beckoned Arthur plenty. He only realized just then how exhausted he was, and he plopped down onto it with a sigh.

Selina stood close by, laughing in joy as she unwrapped the mask from the coat bundle and held it up before her own eyes.

“It’s a beauty up close!” she beamed and announced with zeal, holding the item tightly between her hands. Gazing at her prize, she cooed, “And to think, it’s mine!”

Not even stirring, Arthur groused, “I helped get you the damn thing; it’s _ours_ , isn’t it?”

Had she already forgotten about him now that she’d obtained whatever it was _she_ needed? Was she that selfish?

Groaning in anguish while his thoughts scattered messily about in his mind, Arthur didn’t hear Selina wandering over to the bed and yanking out from beneath it a small crate of alcohol.

Giggling, she playfully popped open the cork of champagne, and then tossed onto the bed a bottle of whiskey for Arthur. It landed next to his right hip, and he shifted, lowering his head down to espy it close to himself.

Viciously, he snapped, “I don’t want it.”

“Stop being a loser and just enjoy yourself for _once._ ”

….

How encouraging.

Shaking his head in bewilderment, Arthur again decided not to argue. Besides, he was rather thirsty…so he popped open the cork, held the bottle to his parched lips. Gazing rather intently at Selina, Arthur dipped his head back and slowly sipped his first mouthful of whiskey. The liquid was seductive as it burned his throat, his tongue, and even made his teeth rattle.

Selina locked the attic door before wandering over to the bed and inviting herself to sit next to him. Finishing her larger sips quickly, she chuckled once she observed Arthur’s open, vulnerable expressions due to downing more of the undiluted, meracious beverage. Mirthlessly, she snickered and poked fun at him unnecessarily.

“Sooo, how long’s it been for you, then?” Winking at him, she clarified, “I mean with drinking and celebrating?”

Though her question had been aimed at a benefic attempt at communicating and passing the time, Arthur felt he wasn’t eager to forgive her too quickly. She’d hurt him…again.

Staring at his whiskey almost forlornly, he commented morbidly, “I’m not drunk enough for this.”

Tilting her head curiously at him, she echoed, “Drunk enough for this? For what?”

Pointing at her, he grunted rudely, “You and your crap, Selina. How many more times are you gonna end up tricking me and using me?” Pausing long enough while she frowned at him madly, he took two sips before wiping his lips with the back of his dress shirt sleeve. “I’m starting to think that we have to do this forever, don’t we?”

“Stop it,” she interrupted, “we got the mask! Don’t you see that we make a good team, Fleck?”

Scoffing, he muttered blandly, “A team?” Sitting up, then, he nearly broke down in anger and tears of agony as he hissed between clenched teeth, “Don’t you see that I have feelings, Selina? That I’m a human being?!?”

Silence moved on between them, and they weren’t able to even hold eye contact for very long. Both abashed and miserable, they turned to their alcohol, as though that would solve all the issues and provide the answers. Both Arthur and Selina wished it would, but of course, that wasn’t the case.

Meekly, Selina almost appeared like a little girl. Her shoulders sunk down, her lower lip formed a pit of a pouty expression, and she played with her hair. Straightening it a few times with her hands, she wove it carefully between her fingers, mimicking the teeth of a comb. It helped straighten her hair a bit, but she still appeared badly disheveled. Her general appearance left Arthur wondering how badly he looked in comparison to her. Was he as messy, disturbed, and craven?

Selina’s soft sigh only served to bewray her remorse. As tough as she always aimed to be, she couldn’t help but sense that after reconnecting with Arthur Fleck, the need to bond with him outweighed anything else. Mood mercurial and fluctuating, she scratched at herself while biting her lower lip. Her mind felt as though it were on fire, and she truly didn’t know what to do with him.

Was it so difficult so begin with an apology? Any other person would’ve offered him that courtesy in such a circumstance, but not Selina Kyle. The very idea scorned and offended her larger ego, and she recoiled from it as though shirking away from a growing fire. It was impossible to even imagine apologizing to this man, so she hurriedly finished the rest of her drink and nestled herself beside Arthur.

Pressing down onto the mattress, she grabbed his bottle of whiskey and then set it on the floor with a soft ‘thud’. Arthur didn’t look at her, but she could tell he wanted to. He was struggling a lot on holding back and repressing something, at the very least. It almost made her laugh, but she didn’t want to ruin the quiet, peaceful moment. Kneading and beating into the mattress as she had been doing for over a minute finally made him offer her a half-smirk.

“What?”

He snickered impishly, “You were kneading the bed like a cat.”

Rolling her eyes, she commented, “Well, I guess I’ve learned a thing or two from Black after all this time.”

Inching closer to her, Arthur asked, “I’m shocked you took care of her as well as you did.”

Selina smiled a bright smile, missing how Arthur’s hand gently and gingerly moved from the mattress and sheets, over to her hip. “I love Black,” she sighed, not noticing when Arthur’s hand hovered half an inch above her hip.

Tossing her head back and losing herself to her joy, she whispered in addition, “Black’s my best friend.”

Clearing his throat, a mischievous Arthur lowered his hand, but he aimed to keep her distracted by staring intently at her. “Oh? And I’m not your friend?” Laughing perhaps to amuse himself as well as throw her off to what he was doing, he sighed, “That hurts.”

Ignoring his weird statements, Selina counted to ‘three’ in her mind before she purred with glee, “I’m glad we got the mask, though. Not gonna let that ever slip from me.”

Admiring her shapely figure didn’t keep Arthur from feeling a mixture of pain and contempt. Fingers dangling above her waist like tiny spiders, he glared minaciously before he groused at her, “Oh…right…I forgot that all you care about is a bunch of material stuff.”

Fury coursed along Selina’s body at once, making her form and posture appear less relaxed and rigid. Glowering up at the ceiling, she snidely commented, “Fleck, it’s not about that.”

“What’s it about, then?”

Lunging at him verbally, she snapped acidly, “It’s about making a damn statement.” When silence ebbed on between them, she cautioned, remembering her tone, “It’s about sending the message that no one as greedy and callous as Oswald Cobblepot needs to get their fat hands on stuff that doesn’t belong to them.”

Lost in his own heady, burgeoning lust, Arthur only registered half her words. His sights were set on touching her as he’d wanted to, so very badly. Lowering his limb, he’d been about to make contact with her, then, when at the very last minute, her hand dashed forth like a snake and gripped his.

Her eyes turned angry and spiteful, much like her spirit. “Fleck, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Arthur found that the same question had been something he himself was ruminating and going over. Just _what_ was he doing? Had the alcohol made him so bold? He knew there was a light rush to his head, leaving him feeling warm and heady, but he couldn’t be that dizzy and crazy enough to think he could get away with touching her…

But he wanted to…he really just wanted to touch her once…

He still couldn’t answer her, even though he knew she was waiting for his reply.

….

Had she let go of his hand?

Peering down, Arthur saw that she’d released her firm grip on his limb. What was this?

Gazing back into her venerous eyes, then, he timorously rasped, “I…I don’t know what I’m doing…”

Cautiously, Selina pressed his hand down on her own hip. He gasped out in utter shock when she did that. Arthur hadn’t at all been expecting for her to do such a bold thing, but his lower torso was happy and grateful for it. Blushing like mad, he couldn’t even fend off the heat rising from his cheeks and neck, nor could he prevent himself from choking on mouthfuls of air.

Selina chuckled in mild amusement. “Is this helping you decide?”

Nodding slowly, he wheezed as though drowning, “Yeah…it’s…it’s n-nice…”

This had to be a damn dream. It just _had_ to be! When he woke up, she would be gone, and would be back in Arkham State Hospital locked away in his room with no one to talk to, no one to relate to, no one to hold, no one to love…

Nuzzling herself against him, Selina purred sensually, “It’s okay to enjoy this a little.”

Encouraged more than plenty by the burning alcohol and her luscious words, Arthur kicked off his shoes, and then lay next to Selina, his hands caressing the front of her body, running over her smooth skin. He leaned down, his lips touching hers gently before drawing away in mild shock at his own course of actions.

Perhaps he’d been expecting for her to slap him, but she didn’t. She gushed heat and radiated a lovely glow in the center of her eyes, her hands gently resting on his chest. Arthur decided to test it again, leaning against her and kissing her once more, this time with a lot more urgency, as if he were afraid she would bolt.

This moment couldn’t ever go away or end, he decided. Her lips had always been so pleasant and had drawn him in more than anyone else he’d ever kissed. Carefully wanting to savor the moment, he tentatively ran his tongue over her lips. Selina moaned, rapidly heating up, and she quickly opened her mouth to him. Without hesitation, Arthur seized the opportunity; he plunged his tongue deeply into her mouth.

The kiss was explosive. To Selina, Arthur tasted like fiery whiskey and mint. It was a taste Selina didn’t think went well together with her desires and preferences, but somehow seemed to fit on the man’s tongue.

Though she had kissed and been kissed before plenty of times by young men she’d developed crushes on, those experiences all vastly paled in comparison to how Arthur kissed her. This older man was kissing her with depth, hunger, and he was savage in delving deeper and deeper into her mouth, tongue darting and lapping forth to taste every inch of her. He memorized her mouth and mapped it out like it was a sacred treasure, and Selina felt like swooning right there in his arms.

This kiss…no, his kiss was something else…something…not really of this world.

Without breaking the passionate kiss, Arthur’s less than mansuetude hands wandered down her body. He had no set path; only ethereal pleasure cultivating within their bodies guided himself along. Selina coiled her legs around him, and then he brushed his front against hers. They both let out a loud groan, and Arthur gyrated his hips down into hers.

This was moving a lot faster than he wanted, but now that it’d started, he didn’t want it to end. Selina apparently also seemed to be going along with much the same, gripping his cheeks and then looping her arms about his neck while she draped a leg over his waist. All that did was ensure that their bones and muscles ground against each other and friction was created.

They needed to take care of that.

Without thinking much of her actions, Selina opened her legs as Arthur reached down between her thighs, his knuckles purposefully grazing along the zipper of her jeans. Selina was dazed with how he never broke the kiss while he swiftly tugged down her zipper and unbuttoned the single button holding her jeans up. Snaking a hand down her pants, he sought out her underwear, and she allowed it. At first, he gently rubbed her over the cotton of her panties, growling when he felt them already quite damp.

Encouraged by her reactions as she mewled in delight when his hand pressed down on her most sensitive nub, Arthur became lost. Movements jerky, shaky, and uncoordinated, he was a desperate, sweaty mess. All he wanted to do was pursue her sexuality and his own. Quite hasty with his prurient moves and plans, he divulged in her flesh in ever a dissolute manner. But the barrier between his flesh and hers annoyed him; he wanted the damn panties out of the way.

Sucking on her lower lip deeply, he guided his own hand lower, pushing her panties to one side. Selina, far too lost and taken by lust, hadn’t followed what he’d been doing on time. Courageously, Arthur slid a finger between her folds, and then he fought his way back up through her curls. Selina’s eyes blew open at once, and she broke the kiss.

Panic and fear rose like a bilious fever within herself, and she whimpered as he pressed down lower and lower. He was circling her opening, and as the distrait man rushed ahead, the tip of his middle finger slid inside her tight channel.

Selina dug her fingernails in his back, shoving him back with one arm with a resolute cry of anguish. It served enough to catch Arthur’s dispersed attention, and his eyes refocused on her face. Slowly, he glanced down where his hand was, deeply buried between her legs and beneath her panties.

Selina shook her head, shoving him one more time firmly in the chest. “Don’t, Fleck,” she begged and pleaded. “Don’t go inside…I’m n-not ready for that!”

Kissing her forehead was all he could do to calm her down. Internally, he was a little enraged and sexually frustrated by the fact that she wouldn’t allow him to do more. Seeing as he’d never wanted to force a woman for anything, however, he smiled as he nodded in agreement and obedience.

“I won’t go inside,” he reasoned calmly, in spite of his own erection nearly making him buckle down. “Can I just touch on the outside? Please?”

Shaking, she closed her eyes, turned her head to the side, and finally whispered, “O-okay, but I s-swear, if you even—”

He cooed, “Just trust me; I won’t hurt you.”

Arthur could see the specific moment in time when she’d willingly put all her faith and trust in him. Clutching at his right arm, she nodded, finally taking a small peek at him. Arthur kissed her neck, lips wandering naturally over to her chin, where he paused and nibbled it sensually. He then allowed his fingers to just rest on top of her mound, trying to give her enough time to adjust to his hand remaining there for a while.

She was stiff and indifferent at first, but Arthur didn’t give up. He felt heat and wetness radiating off her body down below, and in turn, he licked and kissed her neck, lapping up her sweet perspiration. God, even when sweating, she tasted like candy…kissing and licking away at her skin, he buried and pressed his nose in the crook of her neck, but he started feeling rather nervous and uptight when she hadn’t responded.

Wasn’t he doing his best for her? Wasn’t she feeling good?

Pausing enough to study her facial expressions, Arthur felt disparaged and equally as uptight when he saw her frowning somewhere up at the ceiling. Wasn’t she even going to look at him?!?

….

Evidently, not.

Beyond upset with his recent discovery, Arthur felt himself growing flaccid. There was no point in doing this if she wasn’t going to respond. He wasn’t a damn rapist, and he felt he was already forcing himself plenty on her. She wasn’t interested in more than a few kisses, and it was time to realize and accept that cold fact.

Bracing himself, he tried moving off her, when suddenly, Selina’s hand pressed down on his own, roughly. Glancing at her in shock, he barely managed to breathe out: ‘What’, when she shoved his hand over her nub in a specific angle.

Watching him intently, she frowned incessantly, but a smile toyed with the corner of her lips. It wasn’t something she could conceal from him, and it didn’t appear as though she wanted to. Touching the tip of her nose against his quite intimately, she intoned, “Let me show you how to do it, silly.”

Aggressively, she guided Arthur’s hand, pressing it down on her own flesh, while her warm hand remained on top of his. Together, their hands were travelling down to rest on her engorged clit.

Meeting his eyes, she smiled a soft smile while she rotated her fingers in clockwise motions. “Feel that, Fleck?” came her soft growl, “that’s how I like it; that’s the pattern you should follow for pleasing me…”

Nearly bursting apart at the seams, Arthur moaned brokenly in a bit of a hiccup, “I…I th-think I can…fuck…”

“Excellent selection of words,” she snickered, and then moaned herself when he took over, mimicking the pattern she’d set. His pace was slow and deliberate, but then he got faster and faster. She loved that he’d picked up the pace, and she chased after it by arching her hips in the air and meeting his hand shamelessly.

Kissing his stubbled cheek, she wildly wailed, “Yeeesss, you beautiful, handsome thing! Right there!”

The words she was spewing were setting Arthur’s body alight with love and passion. He didn’t know what to do with it, nor did he understand how to contain it. The importunate thoughts and desires overpowered anything else he’d felt previous to this moment, but he used those to push himself forward and please her to the best of his abilities. He hoped he was doing a decent enough job.

Hips ramming into his hand while the mattress groaned and creaked beneath their weight informed and alerted Arthur to the plain fact that yes, he _was_ doing more than a satisfactory job for her. Selina’s eyes were tightly shut, and she had been chewing on the back of her hand for a split second before Arthur moved her limb out of the way. Sneaking a finger of his opposite hand beneath her chin, he dipped her head back and forced her to face him.

“Look at me, Selina…”

Although her eyes opened a crack, she was glancing at his lips more than his eyes.

“Selina?”

Growling ferociously, she latched onto his lips, kissing him a bit rougher than he’d anticipated, but he didn’t mind while he stimulated the peak of her biology all while moving his tongue in and out of her mouth, just as she’d been doing to him.

After a moment, she broke their kiss while panting aloud desperately, “N-not too f-fast!! I c-can’t—”

Catching on immediately, he stilled his finger there, just barely wiggling it on her clit before moving it away. He continued to tease her, drawing close to her hard clit before moving his hand away. He was waiting. And he knew it wouldn’t be long before he got what he wanted.

Kissing her soundly again, he drew back enough to whisper onto the seam of her pursed lips, “Watch what I am doing to you.”

Her blue eyes sought his darker colored ones, and as her reward, he began to move his fingers in slow circles. Inhaling deeply, Selina must’ve felt sharp jolts of pleasure shoot through her entire body at his touch. She moaned softly, again letting him know he’d located the best spot, and Arthur aimed for it repeatedly.

To Selina’s surprise, when they kissed again, she could feel Arthur smile into her mouth. He continued to move his finger in slow circles while plundering her mouth with his tongue, the rhythm almost matching perfectly in harmony.

Arthur focused on her clit for a little while longer before finally moving his fingers to her entrance again, but he only circled and traced it as opposed to going further…for now. He broke his kiss with her abruptly, deciding to be gentle once again, when she decided against it. Seizing his hand violently, she shoved him down between her folds while slipping his fingers into her tight hole. This time, there was no going back; she’d decided.

He began to finger her faster, his groans overpowering her moans. Both adults were equally pent-up and frustrated, especially Arthur, but he wanted to ensure that she was feeling great before the night was out.

Bending his head and pressing his lips to her ear, he gasped, “God, Selina, you’re so wet.”

His sexual, pyrexical words seemed to delight her, and she responded by moving against him a little harder and faster. While careful not to go too far upon feeling a stretch of skin pressing against his fingertip, Arthur began to kiss and suck her on her neck, his teeth nipping at her skin. Careful not to mar her skin and bite the lovely shade of it he’d always fondly admired, he scented her arousal wafting in the air in no time.

So ripe…

While he gnawed gently on her flesh, Selina knew that it would result in a hickey later, but at that point she didn’t care. She could feel the warm knot in her belly threatening to break the longer he moved his middle finger in and out of her body. Her thoughts betrayed herself, and she fed them by imagining that it wasn’t his finger making love to her right now.

“Oh fuck, Arthur—don’t stop! Please don’t stop!” she begged and cried through her tears, wondering how it was possible for this man to already know exactly where her most erogenous zones were located, and just how much depth she wanted.

She wasn’t one to masturbate much herself, and since she’d started sharing a room with Holly to save up on rent, Selina’s odd ministrations and experiments had been a mere hurried experience early in the morning in the shower or tub, nothing more. She’d never had much time or consideration put forth into her own body and exploring new things, but Arthur was relatively attentive to her every need and whim.

She found that he was handling her gently, but she didn’t know frankly whether he’d sensed this was the first time she’d done this with another man. She would always worry about that later, she thought.

Boldly, Arthur’s fingers moved faster, his thumb resting on her clit, and he decided to try something new with her. Imitating a lot of male pornographic actors he’d seen back in his youth, he took up talking dirty to the young woman panting and moaning in his arms.

“You like when I finger fuck your pussy, don’t you, Selina?” he murmured seductively into her neck, watching her blush and writhe about even more.

Cooing, practically, Arthur basked in her physical responses. “You know,” he growled against the pallor of her throat, “the body never lies…you’re absolutely soaked, and I know you like me.”

Selina thought she would die at the sound of his low voice whispering such dirty words. She’d never been fond of his voice before, but now, in his highly aroused state, he sounded more in charge, more masculine, and sexier…

Just when Selina felt she was on the brink of exploding, Arthur slowed down for a second, and then surprised her by attending back to her peak.

Words were becoming tough to come by as he worked nimble fingertips into the soaked folds of her sex. He made her cry out with pleasure as they slipped through the heat, coming to rest on the little nub that promised to bring Selina to such great heights of ecstasy in such a short amount of time. And that time was well spent when Arthur ground his fingers directly on her sensitive flesh and wrenched a long, feminine cry out of her that went on for some time.

Arthur watched appreciatively while he worked the tight bud with little flicks and rubs of one finger. She was so gorgeously responsive; he couldn’t help but watch the parade of emotion dance across her features. All of this passion was for him, and they were both still fully dressed. Still, it didn’t matter; he’d already planned in his mind for this incident to occur many, many times over.

Sinking her teeth into his neck, though not to the point where she hurt him and broke skin, Selina was desperately trying not to have the rest of the house or neighborhood hear her wanton cries. Arthur wriggled out of her way, and though he didn’t want her screaming and crying her head off, he found a much better way to silence her.

Slamming his mouth down on hers possessively, his free hand grabbed and groped her right breast, purposefully tugging on the hardened bud poking and tenting up beneath her shirt. The moment he’d done that, Selina turned to jelly in his arms. Swooning, she collapsed flatly against the bed, quivering and shaking the aftershocks.

His tongue swirled around hers one last time and in one last dance before he moved his hand and withdrew it from her soaked panties. They were struggling to catch their breath, and Selina soon faded. Eyeing her unconscious form, Arthur’s vagarish eyes roved up and down her body. Unable to believe that such a young, gorgeous woman had allowed him to touch her, he shook his head to snap himself out of his crazy thoughts.

Before he lost even more control, Arthur got up from the bed and padded off carefully across the room, focusing on ridding himself of his throbbing erection after witnessing Selina Kyle experiencing a rather mind-blowing orgasm.

He badly needed a fucking cigarette after all that, and Selina badly needed sleep.


End file.
